Prior to his two-year stay at B.C., Bicknell spent eight seasons as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, where his 43 victories are the third-most in school history.
During Bicknell's stint, Louisiana Tech routinely played one of the nation's toughest schedules. The Bulldogs faced Florida State, Penn State, Miami, Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Clemson and Auburn. Under his leadership, Tech defeated national powers Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma State and 22 of his players were either drafted by or signed free agent contracts with NFL teams.

Bicknell, who was one of the youngest Division I-A head coaches when he started, led the 1999 Bulldogs to an 8-3 record, the school's first AP Top 25 ranking and a 29-28 upset win over eventual SEC champion Alabama. In 2001, Louisiana Tech won the Western Athletic Conference championship during its first year of membership, earning Bicknell conference Coach of the Year honors. Louisiana Tech went on to play Clemson in the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl, the program's first postseason appearance since 1990.

Bicknell began his coaching career at Boston College in 1985 as a graduate assistant. In 1987, he went to the University of New Hampshire as the defensive line coach and took over the offensive line in 1993. During his time at UNH, the Wildcats won the Yankee Conference in 1991 and 1994 and were the New England Division champions in 1996. He was the offensive line coach at Louisiana Tech in 1997-98 before becoming the head coach. After leaving Louisiana Tech in 2007, Bicknell accepted the offensive line job at Texas Tech, but later opted to return to his alma mater.

Bicknell's father, Jack, served as the head coach of the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe and was the head coach at BC from 1981-90, finishing with a record of 59-55-1.

Bicknell played at Boston College from 1981-85, which coincided with Coughlin's tenure as an assistant coach there (81-83). He played in the Cotton and Tangerine Bowls and in 1984 started one of the most famous plays in college football history when he snapped the ball to Doug Flutie, who threw the Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan that defeated Miami in the Orange Bowl. As a senior at B.C., he received the Scanlon Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a BC football player, the Scarminach Award for athletic and academic excellence and the Dean's Award in the school of education. Bicknell received both his bachelor's (1985) and master's (1987) degrees from Boston College. He and his wife Helen have three children: John, Katelyn and Alyse.