The Badgers land one of the hottest coaching candidates of the past few years
The Wisconsin Badgers landed one of, if not the biggest fish in the coaching carousel on Sunday afternoon as it’s being reported that Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell is set to be the new Wisconsin Badger head coach.
Fickell, who went 57-18 over six years at UC, will replace Paul Chryst who was let go earlier this year in October. No word yet on what interim head coach and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will do moving forward, or even if there is a chance to remain with the program.
The move to bring Fickell in should be seen as a huge win for a Badger program looking to return to their dominant ways under Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema. While Chryst performed well overall during his tenure, the program began to dip in play over the past few seasons. At one point, it looked like Chryst was going to be the head coach at Wisconsin for the long haul, especially after the 2017 season when UW just missed the CFP going 13-1 and only losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship.
However, this would all change as Wisconsin would struggle to be competitive in big games over the next few years, and a lack of development was beginning to show. Most notably, quarterback Graham Mertz, who was once the prized quarterback recruit from Kansas and has seen his career at Wisconsin been marred in disappointing performances.
Now in comes Luke Fickell, who brings a track record of receiving mid-level talent and developing NFL caliber players by the time they leave the program. After taking Cincinnati to the CFP in 2021, his team saw nine players selected in the NFL draft. Only Georgia and LSU had more players selected.
Fickell will also know the Big Ten landscape, and fits the culture of the conference better than most candidates could. His collegiate career were as a linebacker at Ohio State, before he would become an assistant and eventual coordinator with the Buckeyes. His intimate knowledge of the conference, along with the recruiting pipelines around the region may help the Badgers battle for top talent with the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, etc.
As all things go, we don’t know for certain if this hire will turn out great, but if you are a Badger fan you certainly have to feel excited for the future.