Nebraska Football: Luke Fickell hire could trigger Mickey Joseph-centric chain reaction

By all accounts, the Wisconsin Badgers are about to hire Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell and when that comes to pass, Nebraska football fans better buckle up for the chain reaction.

Just when it seemed as though the coaching carousel and the game of musical chairs was starting to slow down, Fickell departing his G5 school for the Badgers might be the move that gives Mickey Joseph an opening to get himself a head coaching job when the smoke has cleared.

The Group of 5 schools has long been seen as a kind of weight station for coaches looking to coach at programs like Nebraska football or Wisconsin. With the hiring of Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, it was thought that the most likely landing spot for Mickey Joseph as a head coach was gone. But things are about to change.

While it seems unlikely that Cincinnati would hire Joseph, considering it’s a program that made the college football playoff last year and was in line for an AAC title game this year before it’s loss to Tulane, the program is going to hire someone.

When the Bearcats do zero in on their next head coach, there’s a chance another school could be looking to replace the head coach they just lost to Cincy. This kind of chain reaction could eventually mean that a team has an opening and is willing to gamble on a guy that won three games as head coach for the Nebraska football team during a tumultuous season. It’s also worth nothing that both South Florida and Florida Atlantic are still on the prowl for a head coach.

What makes things even worse for Nebraska football fans is that Luke Fickell leaving Wisconsin today means this whole thing isn’t going to calm down anytime soon. Even if Joseph decides to stick around immediately post-Rhule, it doesn’t mean he’s here to stay. The chain reaction could take weeks to settle down.