Report: Matt Campbell, Tom Herman emerge as candidates for open Cincinnati job

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•11/28/22

With the Cincinnati job open following Luke Fickell’s departure for the Wisconsin job, the Bearcats are beginning their own coaching search. And a few early candidates are beginning to emerge as potential targets.

According to a report from Cincinnati.com sports columnist Jason Williams, former Texas coach Tom Herman and current Iowa State coach Matt Campbell are “very much in play” for the job.

Williams reported that news on Twitter, while also clarifying that the two “are not finalists” necessarily, and that “there are likely other candidates.” He also shot down any notion Urban Meyer might be a legitimate candidate, despite Meyer’s status as an alumnus.

Following a four-year stint as Texas’ head coach from 2017-20, Herman spent one season as an offensive analyst with the Chicago Bears. However, he was not retained when the Bears turned over their coaching staff last year, instead taking some time away from coaching to join the CBS Sports Network as an analyst.

Herman went 32-18 at Texas, with a 22-13 mark in Big 12 play.

Campbell, meanwhile, has been a hot name on the coaching carousel for a few years now and his name has once again surfaced with the Cincinnati job open. He might have lost a bit of luster coming off a high-water mark of 9-3 in the 2020 season, with Iowa State struggling a bit the last two seasons.

The Cyclones went 7-6 in 2021 and finished just 4-8 this season, losing six one-score games.

Campbell has been the head coach at Iowa State since 2016, sporting a 46-42 overall record and a 32-31 mark in conference play.

Fickell arrived as Cincinnati’s head coach in 2017, following former coach Tommy Tuberville‘s resignation after a 4-8 campaign in 2016.

The long-time Ohio State assistant also went 4-8 in his first season before really turning things around in a major way. The Bearcats won 11 games in both 2018 and 2019.

In 2021, Cincinnati went 13-1, becoming the first Group of Five team to reach the College Football Playoff.