Big 12 Football: 5 best candidates to replace Lincoln Riley at OU

Luke Fickell, Cincinnati head coach

One of the hottest names on the college football coaching market right now is definitely the Cincinnati Bearcats fifth-year head coach and former Ohio State Buckeyes interim head coach Luke Fickell. With Cincinnati looking like the most realistic Group of Five College Football Playoff contender since Tom Herman’s Houston Cougars in the 2016 preseason, he’s a hot name heading into next offseason.

But the season is far from over for Fickell and the Bearcats. After topping the East Carolina Pirates in the regular season finale on Nov. 26, Fickel is now looking to get Cincinnati another American Athletic Conference Championship. Cincinnati can put its best foot forward in the College Football Playoff conversation and win another AAC Title if they top head coach Dana Holgorsen and the Cougars next weekend.

Moreover, Fickell didn’t get off to the fastest start in his first year as Cincinnati’s head coach back in 2017. Cincinnati finished up the 2017 season with just four wins. But it didn’t take long for him to right the ship with this program. In 2018, Cincinnati saw a seven-win improvement, to finish up with a record of 11-2.

In the last three seasons, the Bearcats remained one of the best Group of Five programs (if not the best overall). That has all culminated in a 2021 campaign where Cincinnati could be the first Group of Five program to make the College Football Playoff.

If the Sooners buy into the transition that Fickell could have from Cinncinati to a program like Oklahoma, this would seemingly be a good hire to replace Riley.