When Luke Fickell was named the head coach at Wisconsin it seemed like the perfect fit and his struggles since coming to Madison remains one of those weird mysteries of college football. He seemed like the perfect fit as a former Big Ten player and coach who is a no non-sense guy and if he could bring Cincinnati to unprecedented heights, it seemed very likely he was going to be able to keep the Badgers afloat after the tough ending to the Paul Chryst era.
Fickell's time from the beginning was weird trying to implement the Air Raid offense with players who do not fit that mold at all. Wisconsin has always found success around smash mouth offensive lines and great running backs.
He has since switched away from that offense to more of what you would expect to see from this team, but now the problem is things have gotten worse. Luke Fickell was brought in to replace a guy who won over 70% of his games overall as well as in the Big 10. The last two years in Madison have been a complete disaster and honestly, I am shocked he will even get to start the 2026 season still as the head coach.
Wisconsin is a proud program with a history of winning since Barry Alvarez's Cinderella run to the Rose Bowl in the mid 1990s. It would seem the only reason that Luke Fickell has been given more time is the buyout as well as the fact next year is probably going to be rough again no matter who the coach is.
Luke Fickell is set to return to Wisconsin in 2026, via multiple reports. pic.twitter.com/KLqEBP3QdB
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 6, 2025
Athletic Director Chris McIntosh has promised more investment for the football program in the world of NIL, so it will be interesting to see if there is any change for the better for the team in red and white. Camp Randall is no longer a place teams dread to go to and the fanbase is restless as we saw during the Ohio State beatdown two weeks ago. The month of November and it would be shocking if they end up anything better than 2-10 which will have things quite hot next season. With the downward trajectory of this program, I would be shocked if there hasn't been a firing before this time a year from now.