Why Luke Fickell could be the perfect coach for Cincinnati football

How a new coach will work out at a new school is always anyone’s guess.

Especially a first-time (full-time) head coach like Luke Fickell at a place like Cincinnati, where national relevance is still a fairly recent development.

Nothing is guaranteed, but here are five reasons to expect the former Ohio State assistant to succeed:

1. Fickell has been recruiting Ohio for more than 15 years.

The Buckeye State produces lots of good football players, and almost none of them end up going to Ohio State.

As an assistant in Columbus, he’s gotten a good look at thousands of prospects from all over the state, and I can pretty much guarantee there are dozens — probably more — who ended up going somewhere else Fickell would have loved to see in scarlet and gray.

When you’re a team that recruits at the top of the upper echelon, numbers are always tight and spreading the net nationwide is essential to winning national championships.

Fickell already knows how to unearth diamonds in the rough. Now he can sign more of them.

2. He has experience recruiting nationally, too.

A winning team could be built on all the three-star recruits from Ohio, but Fickell won’t have to do that.

He’s got extensive experience recruiting in the South and Florida, which he will no doubt try to exploit when he gets to Clifton.

RELATED: Ohio State has long history of producing superstar coaches

His new home is also accessible for much of the country, arguably even more so than Columbus. It’s 90 minutes closer to talent hot beds in the South, not to mention large population centers like St. Louis, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville and even Atlanta.

3. Fickell understands the importance of valuing where you come from.

As you might have heard, so does the city where he’ll now be making his home.

To be honest, the Cincinnati and Ohio State communities could use a little reconciliation.

I think the size of the rift between them is overblown, but it does exist. It goes beyond Bearcats vs. Buckeyes, too.

However provincial Cincinnati is, this is a two-way street. There seems to be a feeling from the rest of the state that it's not quite as much a part of Ohio as Columbus or Cleveland, either.

Maybe a Buckeye from Columbus succeeding in Cincinnati can help soften some of the hard feelings that have developed over the years.

4. Fickell is a grinder.

A 50-game starter at nose guard for Ohio State, he is the type of no-nonsense, hard worker Cincinnati sports fans love more than anything.

Call him “Lukie Hustle”.

He’s known ups and downs in his 20 years as a Buckeye.

He's beaten Michigan 13 times as an assistant coach, but he still remembers the pain and disappointment he felt from losing to the Wolverines three times as a player.

He takes those experiences with him to work every day, and he has overcome plenty of criticism during his time to continue churning out strong defenses and great linebackers, not to mention great recruits.

5. His players love him.

Those southwest Ohio high school coaches who don’t know him already will surely get to, and they should feel good about having their kids take a second look at Cincinnati now.

That can’t hurt in keeping more local kids from ending up at Kentucky or Indiana or Purdue or Wisconsin, and his eye for talent should mean he should be able to siphon off some of the players in the MAC-to-the-NFL pipeline, too.

Neither football nor life offer many guarantees, but Luke Fickell and UC seem like a great match.

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