Pitt Football: Is Luke Fickell Close to Becoming the Next Pitt Head Coach?

Pitt AD Steve Pederson is acting quickly to look for a new head coach after his latest in a long line of mistakes didn't stick around long enough to get moved in.

After Todd Graham packed his bags and left to take the Arizona State job, Pederson has already lined up a trio of interviews.

Now we know Pitt won't open up the checkbook and hire a coach that can make the Panthers relevant once again, but the first three guys Pederson has lined up aren't bad candidates.

Both FIU head coach Mario Cristobal and Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst were candidates last season for the job before it went to both Michael Haywood and Graham, and both are very strong candidates this season as well.

Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads was also a candidate to return back to Pittsburgh as well, but he signed a 10-year contract extension with the Cyclones today.

That brings us to former Ohio State head coach Luke Fickell, who also interviewed today for the vacant Panthers opening.

Fickell didn't have great success in his only season on the Buckeyes sidelines. To be honest, it was a disaster.

But to be fair, Fickell was thrown into a miserable opportunity and had little chance at success from the minute he was named as the interim successor to Jim Tressel.

Would Fickell be a good fit at Pitt?

Who knows? He has some advantages that he's coached at one of the premier institutions in the nation and with Pitt headed to the ACC soon, should be able to keep up in recruiting.

He's also classy. You won't be getting a Haywood or Graham by hiring Fickell.

Fickell did something this year that Graham didn't and he shouldered a lot of the blame when the Buckeyes underachieved. He was also put in a horrible spot with the entire Urban Meyer situation at the end of the year and handled everything in a very classy fashion.

That's all great, but Pitt has to start winning football games and I just don't know if Fickell is the guy that can get that done right away. Sure it's a small sample size to look at, but the Ohio State offense was awful under his command.

At Pitt he would have a less talented team to start and he doesn't really have anything on his resume as a head coach that would make you think he can turn things around for the Panthers in a hurry.

On a positive note, he will have a good young quarterback still coming in as it appears Chad Voytik is still committed to the Panthers.

Like most candidates Fickell has his pros and cons, but one thing is for sure.

He can't be any worse than the last two hires.