The Coaches

Luke Fickell
Luke Fickell is 6-3 in his first year as a head coach. Luke Fickell has been an assistant coach for 13 years. He was a graduate assistant at OSU under John Cooper in 1999. He was a defensive line coach at Akron from 2000-2001. Early in Jim Tressel's tenure at OSU, he hired Fickell as the special teams coordinator. He eventually coached the linebackers and was a co-defensive coordinator. Going into this season he was the assistant head coach, and was promoted in May to head coach, after Jim Tressel retired. Prior to coaching, Fickell was a four year starter for OSU, from 1992-1996. During his career, OSU was 41-8-1, won two Big Ten Championships and won the 1997 Rose Bowl. He started a school record 50 consecutive games. After graduation he spent one year on the injured reserve team for the New Orleans Saints.




Danny Hope
In his third season at Purdue he is 13-20. His career record is 48-42, in his eighth season. Prior to taking the head coaching position he was the associate head coach at Purdue, focusing on the offensive line and recruiting. His promotion to head coach was planned and coordinated with the retirement of coach Joe Tiller. Hope first worked with Tiller at Wyoming in 1996. He was also an assistant coach under Tiller at Purdue from 1997-2001, coaching the offensive line. After leaving Purdue in 2002 he served as an assistant head coach at Louisville. Hope had previously been an assistant coach at Louisville from 1987-1994. His assistant coaching career also includes a brief stop at Oklahoma in 1995. He was a successful high school coach in Florida in the 80's, which is where he is from. He was a head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2003-2007 with a record of 35-22. Hope played at Eastern Kentucky as an offensive guard.