ATLANTA (Dec. 30, 2021) - Officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. today announced that Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell has been named the winner of the 2021 Dodd Trophy presented by PNC. 

The Dodd Trophy, college football's most coveted coaching award, honors the head football coach whose program embodies the award's three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field throughout the season. Winners of the award from the previous two years and first-year coaches at an institution are not eligible to win the award.

Fickell led the Bearcats to the program's first College Football Playoff berth, becoming the first and only Group of Five team to qualify since the CFP's creation in 2014. He also led Cincinnati to the only undefeated (13-0) record in college football this season, as well as its second-consecutive undefeated regular season and American Athletic Conference Championship.

Cincinnati's season was highlighted by the program's first-ever road win over a top-10 team with a 24-13 victory against Notre Dame in South Bend, which snapped the Irish's 26-game home winning streak and handed the Notre Dame their only loss of the season. Fickell's Bearcats had 12 All-AAC first-team selections and were one of the most balanced units in the nation as one of only two teams that finished in the top-10 in the FBS in both scoring offense (9th at 38.8 ppg) and scoring defense (tied for 4th at 16.1 ppg). 

Now in his fifth season at Cincinnati, Fickell is 48-14 overall, including a 44-6 mark since the start of the 2018 season, and is a three-time AAC Coach of the Year, winning the conference honors in 2021, 2020 and 2018. 

"It is a tremendous honor to receive The Dodd Trophy," Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell said. "Scholarship, leadership and integrity are all things that we try to instill in our players here at Cincinnati that I know were very important to Coach Dodd. We've been fortunate to receive recognition this year for our successful season, but any awards or accolades are a credit to our entire team, especially our student-athletes, who worked incredibly hard in the offseason and this fall to get us to where we are today."

Cincinnati has also excelled academically under Fickell. Off the football field, Fickell's players have achieved at the highest levels in the classroom, with 80 players receiving Academic All-AAC honors for the 2020-2021 school year. The Bearcats additionally boast an impressive 990 Academic Progress Rate (APR), which ranks tied for sixth in Division 1. Cincinnati has also won five of the last six AAC Team Academic Excellence Awards and posted a program-record GPA of 3.21 in the spring of 2021. 

Since Fickell arrived in 2017, Cincinnati football has a 100 percent graduation rate for players that stay at least four years.  Cincinnati senior quarterback Desmond Ridder and senior wide receiver Alec Pierce were named First Team Academic All-Americans by CoSIDA after the 2021 fall semester, while junior offensive lineman Lorenz Metz and senior safety Bryan Cook were selected as Second Team Academic All-Americans by CoSIDA in the same term.

"Coach Fickell truly epitomizes everything that The Dodd Trophy stands for," said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. "He built the Cincinnati program into a perennial contender, and has also achieved new milestones in the classroom and made a positive impact in his community. Coach Dodd would be honored to have someone win the award who truly carries on his legacy into the modern era of the sport."

In the community, Fickell was one of the founders of the 2nd & 7 Foundation in 1999 with teammates Ryan Miller and Mike Vrabel. The organization promotes reading by providing free books and positive role models to kids in need, while encouraging young athletes to pay it forward. In the 2017-18 school year, more than 170 programs were implemented in 23 states, with over 67,000 new books distributed to children in need by positive role models from local high schools and universities.

"Coach Fickell has elevated the Cincinnati to new heights academically and athletically," said Gary Stokan, CEO and president of Peach Bowl, Inc. "The Dodd Trophy is the most coveted coach of the year award because it honors those coaches who leave a lasting legacy both on and off the football field by emphasizing scholarship, leadership and integrity. Coach Fickell epitomizes everything coaches in our sport should aspire to be and is the perfect selection to be this year's recipient."

Five of the nation's top head coaches (Dave Aranda, Dave Clawson, Luke Fickell, Jim Harbaugh and Pat Narduzzi) were named finalists for this year's award by a panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member. Coach Fickell was selected as this year's recipient by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.