ESPN came out with a list of coaches who were former players. It goes through category by category and eventually decides to rank them all. Luke Fickell comes in at No. 30, which is actually a complete disrespect to him and his playing career. The list is full of former players, now coaches, who were worse than him. Fickell started every game for the Ohio State Buckeyes at nose tackle, won a Rose Bowl with a torn pectoral muscle, and eventually went to the NFL.
The list includes numerous coaches who, despite being higher than Fickell, struggled to make a significant impact in a similar manner. To confirm I wasn't crazy, I asked AI to rank Luke Fickell on this list based on career matchups, and it said... 6th.
The top 30 head coaches ranked as players via ESPN. 👀 pic.twitter.com/1tejfvvY21
— College Football Alerts (@CFBAlerts_) July 14, 2025
Fickell landed dead last in ESPN’s “Top 30 Head Coaches as Players”
Let's start with the obvious: being a starter in the Big Ten, especially in the 1990s, was not easy. There are multiple coaches ahead of him who played for FCS schools or low-level programs. That's just the start of the problems.
Fickell was a three-time state champion in the state of Ohio as a wrestler and then went on to become a starter at Ohio State, compiling 206 career tackles, 26 for loss, six sacks, and two interceptions. He even had a streak of 50 consecutive starts. To find that level of playing career on this list, you have to go pretty high up to find it.
The list is a mess once you get to Steve Sarkisian, nothing against him as a coach, and he was a pretty decent player. He even won the award one of the seasons for the nation's top quarterback, but he only played two years at a high collegiate level for BYU. He then went to the CFL. Not really that impressive compared to coaches behind him like DeShaun Foster, who was exceptional in college and in the NFL. What are we doing with this list?
There are way more problems with this list, but Fickell was finally disrespected in a coaching list. He often deserves the criticism on coaching lists, but this one is out of line and way off base.