Cincinnati agreed to a contract extension for head football coach Luke Fickell that will run through 2028 and pay him $5 million per year, multiple reports said Monday.
Fickell became the first coach to take a Group of Five program to the College Football Playoff in 2021. The Bearcats turned in their second straight undefeated regular season, won the American Athletic Conference and were given the No. 4 seed in the playoff.
Cincinnati then fell 27-6 to top-seeded Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
Fickell has a 48-15 record in five seasons coaching Cincinnati, including three double-digit win seasons in the past four years. He was a rumored candidate for premier coach openings around college football like Notre Dame and Southern California, but he opted to stay put.
The 48-year-old is from Ohio, played at Ohio State and worked in a variety of assistant coaching positions for the Buckeyes from 2002-16.
Fickell told The Athletic that the contract extension offer was made to him during the middle of the 2021 season, and he said he would revisit it once the season was over.
Reports said that Cincinnati — which is set to join the Big 12 no later than 2024 — plans to increase its staff salary pool to $5.2 million.
