Why keeping Luke Fickell was the correct decision

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh announced last week that Luke Fickell would be returning as head coach of the football team for the 2026 season. To many, the decision prompted both outrage and confusion. Fickell, before the first ranked win of his tenure Saturday against Washington, had failed in the eyes of most Badgers fans. Even after the win against Washington, Fickell’s record in Madison stands at 16-19, with only nine of those wins coming in Big Ten play. Fickell has presided over some embarrassing results, most notably back-to-back blowout losses to rival Iowa and a thumping at home this season against a mediocre Maryland team. When viewing Fickell through this lens, it might seem obvious that Wisconsin should’ve let him go. However, I believe that McIntosh’s decision was wise, for reasons other than his multi-million dollar buyout. 

There’s no question that Fickell’s tenure has been frustrating. The Badgers lost their cherished bowl game and winning-season streaks under Fickell. Fickell unsuccessfully tried to remake the Badgers into an air raid offense, shedding decades of precedent where Wisconsin made their name by primarily running the ball. Until Saturday, Fickell lacked a signature win. 

So why do I believe that keeping him was the right decision? In college football, patience can still be a virtue. Wisconsin made a significant commitment to Fickell in 2022, and for good reason. It can be easy to forget, but Fickell did have an excellent tenure at Cincinnati, which included being the only Group of Five school to ever reach the four-team College Football Playoff. It’s prudent to give Fickell at least one more year, especially since he’ll face a much less daunting schedule in 2026. The Badgers won’t be playing Alabama and avoid Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana. While the Badgers would ideally be able to compete with those programs, we will finally get a glimpse at what kind of coach Fickell can be when he’s not facing a grueling schedule. 

Another aspect of Fickell’s tenure that must be mentioned is the putrid luck the Badgers have had at the quarterback position. Fickell has never had his initial starting quarterback play for an entire season. In the last two seasons, his preferred quarterback didn’t even make it to conference play. There’s no doubt that injuries are part of the sport, but that level of inconsistency at quarterback would hinder most coaches. Keeping Fickell also makes sense when you zoom out and look at the sport at large. College football’s coaching carousel is as zany as ever, with vacancies at some of the nation’s top programs like LSU, Penn State, and Florida. There’s other notable openings at Auburn, UCLA, and Virginia Tech as well. It appears as if the coaching supply won’t be able to keep up with the demand. Rather than being trigger happy, McIntosh has made the correct decision not to fire Fickell and plunge the program into a big pool of dysfunctional teams searching for a new coach. 

While the 2025 season has been far from Wisconsin’s best, there have been some encouraging trends recently. The Badgers, mired in a difficult season, are still playing for Fickell. The Badgers traveled to Eugene a couple of weeks ago and fought hard before being outmatched in a 21-7 loss to Oregon. Then, last Saturday, Fickell earned his signature against #23 Washington, a quality team that came into Camp Randall with a 6-2 record. Although weather definitely played a role in the game, there was a lot to like from the Badgers. Some of Fickell’s recruits are starting to show their worth. Freshman running back Gideon Ituka has shown strong flashes in the past two games, running for 85 and 73 yards respectively. On defense, Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa look like emerging stars. Catalano posted a staggering 19 tackles against Washington, while Posa had 2.5 sacks. There’s reason to believe that if Fickell can finally get some luck at quarterback, the Badgers could finally be on the upward trajectory. 

Part of McIntosh’s announcement regarding Fickell was that the university would increase funding to the football program. If you look around college football, turnarounds in the NIL era can happen as soon as one year. The success of football vagabonds like Indiana and Vanderbilt prove that no program is too far away from achieving success. First, let’s see how the Badgers finish the season. Their next game at Indiana is admittedly going to be a significant challenge. However, I’ll be more interested in seeing how they play against a quality team in Illinois and rival Minnesota. Then, all eyes will turn to a critical offseason for Fickell to prepare for the 2026 season. 

While this happened in a completely different era of college football, Barry Alvarez started his tenure at Wisconsin with three straight losing seasons, and we all know how that turned out. I’m not saying Fickell will replicate Alvarez’s success, but McIntosh has provided him with the chance to prove that his success at Cincinnati can still be translated to winning in the Big Ten. Only time will tell if McIntosh will be vindicated or reviled for his decision.