NASHVILLE — For whatever reason, former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel did not get a head coaching job somewhere else around the league during this coaching cycle.

Maybe it’s his demand for roster control. Maybe it’s his outdated coaching style. Maybe it’s his intimidating physical stature like Dianna Russini reported last week.

We may never know for sure, but the 2021 AP NFL Coach of the Year is out of a job and could be returning to the college ranks as a result.

Dianna Russini asked about Mike Vrabel on The Athletic Football Show:

"I don't think there was a fit for him. I don't think he sat in front of any owner who thought that his style was going to work for what they were looking for…I had a GM at the Senior Bowl who mentioned…

— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) February 5, 2024

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Mike Vrabel & Luke Fickell

Vrabel and Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell are good friends that go back a long way. They were teammates and roommates at Ohio State University from 1993-1996 and later worked on the same OSU staff from 2011-2013 after Vrabel’s NFL playing career.

In 2014, Vrabel left Ohio State for a job with the Houston Texans as their linebackers coach. That job put him on a fast track to becoming the Titans head coach in 2018.

Fickell was named head coach at the University of Cincinnati in 2017. After going 57-18 with the Bearcats and appearing in the College Football Playoffs, Fickell was hired by Wisconsin as head coach and returned to the Big Ten.

Vrabel and Fickell have remained close over the years, and now may find themselves reuniting again. 

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Vrabel to have a role at Wisconsin

With Vrabel not landing a head coaching job, Fickell revealed on ESPN Wisconsin’s ‘Wilde & Tausch Show’ that the former Titans head coach would be around his Wisconsin program in some capacity this spring.

“I talked to him, I think on Saturday and we hadn’t communicated for probably a week or so just as the process was going,” Fickell shared. “And he sounded like a new man. And I’m not sure exactly if this was his choice or what it is that the future really looks like, but I know that we’re going to have a visitor here that’s going to spend a little bit of time, hopefully around us starting coming in the spring and some things like that, and see how deep we can get involved with my buddy and getting him around here.”

Vrabel has been a popular name for college jobs in the past. There has always seemed to be a widely accepted theory that Vrabel would someday take over for Ryan Day at Ohio State and return to his Alma mater.

While it is is still unclear what this role may look like, I’m not sure anyone had Mike Vrabel having a role with the Wisconsin Badgers football program on their 2024 bingo card. 

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