Luke Fickell under fire after Wisconsin loss to Minnesota and fail to reach bowl game

The Wisconsin Badgers were bested by the Minnesota Gophers in their final game of a disappointing 2024 regular season. After the embarrassing 24-7 loss, Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell took the brunt of the blame from fans.

Fickell took over the Badger football program in 2022 and through his first two years (plus one game in 2022) with the team, the Badgers have gone just 13-12 overall.

From sarcasm about his embarrassing wins to calling for him to be fired, Wisconsin fans are beyond disappointed in their head coach.

Prior to joining the Badgers, Fickell was a highly successful Group of Five head coach at Cincinnati. With the Bearcats, Fickell went 57-18 overall and if you ignore his first season with the team, they went 53-10 under his guise.

In 2023, the Badgers at least made it to a bowl game, where they lost to the LSU Tigers in the ReliaQuest Bowl. After the final game in 2024, Fickell was begging the Wisconsin fan base for mercy and faith.

The one thing Fickell said that Badger fans might agree with is the fact that they can't see anything to believe in. A 5-7 finish to the 2024 season is beyond embarrassing for a head coach who was supposed to help the program return to greatness after Paul Chryst's campaign with the Badgers came to an end.

Just one week before the loss to Minnesota, the Badgers were defeated by unranked Nebraska Cornhuskers after falling short against the No. 1 Oregon Ducks. The Badgers and Fickell fired their offensive coordinator Phil Longo. The offense put up just 32 points after letting go of Longo.

As of Dec. 1, 2024, it would cost Wisconsin $40,186,667 to get rid of Fickell, the thirteenth-highest buyout in all of college football.

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