When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU, Luke Fickell was one of the first, and most natural fits mentioned for the job. It was bound to come up in front of reporters today.
Asked today about his name being connected to the Irish's job Fickell's "I just keep my head down" response won't do much to quiet the chatter.
"There is no speculation. Is the job open? I guess it is. But I wouldn't know if someone didn't tell me."
"It's the same way I am with rankings, it's the same way I am with, unfortunately, a lot of other things with the exception of recruiting, that I don't really pay a whole lot of attention to. So I understand."
"The people I care most about are the guys who sit in these seats, to be honest with you, to make sure that they know what is most important to all of us and to make sure all of us find ways to keep our minds focused on the things that we've got to do because I'm not the only guy who's got things swirling around in their head."
"We've got plenty of guys that have an opportunity to go to the NFL. We've got plenty of guys that have opportunities to make decisions on whether to come back and we've got seniors that have this COVID year hanging over everyone's heads and they've got decisions to make."
Fickell goes on to share how proud he is that despite those types of distractions, they've found a way to come together and focus on the task at hand each week.
The #3 Bearcats and Fickell welcome Houston to Nippert Stadium for the AAC title game this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm on ABC.
Will the Irish wait?