A moment to appreciate Luke Fickell's budding coaching tree of former Buckeyes

As he fights for his job at Wisconsin, the former Ohio State linebacker has helped other past Buckeyes get in the door in coaching, and some are already thriving.

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell answers questions on Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. (Photo by Bill Landis)

CHICAGO — Luke Fickell knows he’s in the fire. He’s 17-21 as he enters year four at Wisconsin. If the Badgers don’t make a jump this year. He’s not likely to see a year five. He referenced a “hot seat” three times during his 45-minute breakout session with reporters on Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days. He spent a large chunk of his TV podium time touting all the ways he thinks Wisconsin is finally headed in the right direction.

While acknowledging some missteps, including undervaluing the impact of NIL on roster building, Fickell also wanted to make clear that he has the resolve to put Wisconsin back on the right side of consistent winning. It’ll be fascinating to watch Fickell, who was not long ago considered one of the game’s top rising coaches after he took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff, fight to preserve a once-burgeoning coaching legacy.

I’m interested in another part of that legacy.

There are the results on the field, by which he’ll ultimately be judged. But Fickell has also launched some promising careers for other coaches, and has been a key figure in helping ignite the coaching careers of former Ohio State players. His most noteworthy pupil, of course, is Marcus Freeman, the former Buckeye linebacker who’s now the head coach of Notre Dame, a national-title contender this year that opens the season against Fickell’s Badgers on Sept. 6 in Green Bay, Wisc.

“There’s a long history there, so that makes it unique,” Fickell admitted on Tuesday.

Fickell fostered Freeman as a young coach, first as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 2010 and then from 2017-2020, when Freeman was Fickell’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Cincinnati. Freeman was poached by Notre Dame in 2021 and became head coach a year later, putting him in a position to give his friend and former teammate in Fickell’s linebacker room, James Laurinaitis, his first coaching gig as a graduate assistant for the Irish in 2022.