Wisconsin football: Luke Fickell is the second coming of Barry Alvarez

If Barry Alvarez was remade into a modern-day coach, his name would be Luke Fickell. Wisconsin football made the perfect hire last year when it was able to persuade Fickell to leave the Cincinnati program he had built into a Group of Five power that made the 2021 College Football Playoff.

Fickell could have stayed at Cincinnati and become a Power Five head coach this season as the Bearcats have joined the Big 12, but he felt the need to be back in the conference that he played and coached in before leaving for his second head coaching job. He spent one season as the head man in Columbus for his alma mater in 2011 after the departure of Jim Tressel and before the arrival of Urban Meyer. However, he went back to being the defensive coordinator for Ohio State in 2012 until he left to take over the Cincinnati program in 2017

While in Cincinnati, Fickell went 4-8 in his first season, but then quickly turned the program around, finishing with five consecutive winning seasons. His overall record was 57-18, playing in three conference championships while winning twice.

Now Fickell will look to do the same in Madison as he takes over a Badgers program that is used to winning but has fallen on hard times as of late.

“My family and I are thrilled to join the Wisconsin family,” Fickell said in a press release back in November when he was announced as the new head coach for the Badgers. “This is a destination job at a program that I had admired from afar for years.”

While part of the coaching staff at Ohio State under the leadership of Tressel, Wisconsin was the one program that seemed to give the Buckeyes the most trouble. The Badgers were 3-3 against Ohio State during Tressel’s tenure as head coach at Ohio State while Fickell was a part of the Buckeyes’ staff.

In 2011, it took a hail mary by Braxton Miller in the final seconds of the game at Ohio Stadium for Fickell to defeat Bret Bielema’s Badgers in the one time he faced Wisconsin as a head coach.

No wonder he admired the Wisconsin program.

Now the man with a .716 winning percentage takes over a Wisconsin program that is coming off of a 7-6 season in which they finished 4-5 and in the bottom half of the Big Ten West, which was certainly not the kind of season that the Badger faithful were used to.

Fickell will look to bring Wisconsin back to prominence in the Big Ten West. The last time Wisconsin won the division was in 2019, which was their fourth in six seasons.

If there is one coach who can turn around Wisconsin’s misfortunes in the Big Ten, it’s Fickell. He has proven himself to be a calm yet confident coach, just like his mentor Jim Tressel. He also carries himself as a coach who demands excellence, just like his other mentor Urban Meyer. But what is most striking is how much he will remind you of the Wisconsin legend himself, Barry Alvarez.

If my assessment of Fickell is correct, then the rest of the Big Ten is on notice. It will only be a matter of time before ‘Jump Around’ will once again make its way back to Indianapolis.