When James Franklin was fired after his third loss in a row last weekend, the Wisconsin Badgers fanbase began to ask what it would take for Luke Fickell to be fired. The Badgers are off to a 2-4 start with a 0-3 record in Big Ten play in a season that was supposed to be a pivotal year for the Luke Fickell era.
As if things weren't bad enough for Luke Fickell and the Badgers, the Nation's top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes came to town on Saturday, giving this team another impossible task. Before the 1st quarter was even over, Ohio State had a 17-0 lead as it became clear that the two teams didn't even belong on the same field.
The product in Wisconsin has become so bad that the students chose not to even show up, knowing there was no chance the Badgers would pull off the upset. The fans choosing not to show up may have been a great break for Fickell, who's heard his fanbase chant for his firing several times this season.
The Wisconsin student section 2 minutes before kick pic.twitter.com/Go74ZhCdSd
— Ohio State Football Fan Page (@OhioStFootball) October 18, 2025
How much is Luke Fickell's buyout if the Badgers decide to cut bait?
This past offseason, the Wisconsin Badgers actually extended Luke Fickell, but his buyout remained at the same figure of $25 million. Firing Luke Fickell would result in a massive $25 million buyout, but we just saw Penn State pony up much more to fire James Franklin. If there's a silver lining in a terrible deal for Wisconsin, it's the fact that rather than having to pay Fickell in one lump sum, they'll pay the buyout in monthly installments, making it much easier to manage. Luke Fickell's deal was structured so that the Badgers would only have to pay him 80% of his contract value, which takes a bit of the burden off the Badgers.
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