There’s going to be a lot of buzz around Cincinnati football the next two days before the US Athletics Conference championship game against Houston. One thing that won’t be heard are rumors about whether the head coach is going to South Bend. But other gossip will replace it, and soon.
Notre Dame appeared to have silenced talk about its program Wednesday by promoting defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to replace Brian Kelly. Fickell was considered the favorite to take over from his former boss at UC after Kelly joined LSU.
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The news will save Fickell from having to ask additional questions about Fighting Irish. When he had a Tuesday after the Kelly news, he tried to laser focus on beating Houston. The Bearcats 12-0 are fourth in the latest College Football Playoff rankings but need to beat the Cougars to gain entry.
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“Yes, I don’t know what to deal with,” says Fickell (in the video posted by Joe Danneman of Cincinnati TV WXIX). “For a guy with his head down all the time and very rarely answering the phone or doing anything like that, I don’t talk to a lot of people, so it’s nothing. That’s crazy. That’s it. all that is being said there in different things.
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“No speculation at all. Is the job open? I guess yes. But I wouldn’t know if someone hadn’t told me. That’s how I got the rank. Unfortunately, neither am I. a lot of other things, except recruitment, that I don’t pay much attention to.
“I get that. Most importantly, all I care about are the people in these seats, to be honest with you, to make sure they know what’s most important to all of us. and to make sure we all have to find a way to keep our minds focused on the things that we have to be able to do because I’m not the only one with everything going around in our heads .”
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But Cincinnati fans and administrators (and of course, Fickell) know there will be questions about other shows, starting with Oklahoma. Now there’s buzz about Ohio State, in case Ryan Day leaves. Fickell was the Buckeyes’ interim coach for the 2011 season following the resignation of Jim Tressel.
He has a Team of 5 show about the peak of the CFP breakdown. He’s 43-6 from the start of the 2018 season. The show is expected to be competitive soon after Cincinnati leaves the US for the Big 12. All of that qualifies Fickell to be one. Attractive training products.
All was quiet on the Notre Dame facade, but Fickell was still required.
