Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell's name continues to be linked to the vacant head coach job at Florida Atlantic.
Tuesday brought a report from the South Florida Sun Sentinel that FAU athletics director Pat Chun, a former Ohio State administrator, traveled to Columbus to interview Fickell for the job. The Sun Sentinel previously listed Fickell among the top potential candidates for the post that came open after Carl Pelini resigned last week.
While sources told the Sun Sentinel that Chun made his trip to meet with Fickell, Clay Hall of WSYX TV and Lori Schmidt of WBNS Radio in Columbus pointed out via Twitter that the Owl women's basketball team was already scheduled to play two games in Ohio this week, first at Akron on Friday night and Sunday afternoon at Ohio State.
@claywsyx6 @marcushartman @TheFeverABC6 And, even sooner than that, they play Akron Friday.
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) November 5, 2013
Even if Chun, who is an Ohio native and spent the past 15 years as an administrator at Ohio State, was traveling to Ohio anyway there are plenty of reasons to think Fickell would be an attractive candidate for FAU.
A standout defensive lineman for the Buckeyes in the mid-90s, Fickell returned to his alma mater as part of Jim Tressel's staff in 2002 and has held the positions of special teams coordinator, linebackers coach, co-defensive coordinator, interim head coach and defensive coordinator at various times over the past 12 seasons.
Before Tressel was forced out as head coach during an NCAA scandal, Fickell was viewed by some as a potential successor at Ohio State, and Fickell's name has been linked to multiple MAC openings in the past few years. He reportedly interviewed with Pitt in 2011, but that job ultimately went to Wisconsin assistant Paul Chryst.
During his time as an OSU assistant, he has developed a reputation as a strong recruiter with fertile Florida one of the areas where he has experience and connections.
