3 Reasons Why Badgers’ Luke Fickell Will Not Be Fired Despite Brutal Loss

While coach Fickell had plenty of success with Cincinnati early on, his tenure with Wisconsin has been far different between the quality of talent faced and the quality of talent on the roster. Fickell saw 17 players become NFL draft picks with the Bearcats while Wisconsin has only sent seven players through the draft through his tenure.

Given current projections, that number for Fickell may not go up this off-season as starting tackle Riley Mahlman is the 43rd ranked tackle and considered the highest-graded NFL draft prospect on the roster. Seeing players through to the draft is a difficult task nowadays, however, between players needing to stay somewhere long enough to develop and many players often transferring multiple times.

The big difference that stands out between the tenures however involves the differences in talent acquisition and everyday operations. Previously with Cincinnati, the transfer portal and NIL changes did not truly change the landscape of collegiate football the way that things have changed now. Fickell has been dealing with a budget for the first time in his coaching career and clearly has struggled, but the Badgers are willing to stand by the coach and give him time.

With Cincinnati, Fickell coached the team before the transition over the Big 12 Conference occurred and many of the realignment moves occurred due to big-time spending. The Bearcats were much more aggressive when recruiting talent and did not deal with issues such as repeat portal offenders like Mark Hamper or Tanner Koziol. The Bearcats perhaps look much closer day-to-day to Wisconsin now, but previously the fire and determination to play more meaningful football directly led to more support from the school.

When joining the Badgers, however, support was given to the coach but many factors such as NIL generation, contract negotiations, and a clear plan for the roster for the future were not ironed out. These factors are now crucial to maintaining a winning program and the success of the Badgers recently has been directly tied to these factors.

In the eyes of Wisconsin, Fickell may still need more time to adjust the program to these changes as there was no NIL base and the coach has been responsible for connecting much of that world to the on-field and roster operations. Firing Fickell would mean starting from zero in many different ways, and the Badgers seem committed to seeing the vision of Fickell through before truly considering moving on from the coach.

Keeping Luke Fickell Reason #2: Was the “Base” Ever Truly There?

With the first reason in mind revolving around the talent Wisconsin has had recently, the Badgers have another issue that truly needs to be discussed which involves the original roster Fickell inherited. The argument has long been that Fickell was given a weak roster that was full of gaps, while many fans argue that the best talent on the roster was acquired by former coach Paul Chryst.

Regardless of who was on the roster and who was not, as well as who recruited who, the reality is that the Badgers did not have a roster that could compete given the drastic changes that occurred in college football. Opposing programs have put together ridiculous 60-man classes between high school and the transfer portal while throwing around loads of resources. Wisconsin, however, has chosen a much more conservative and calculated approach to building the roster, but the necessary talent has still not been added.

Sometimes, the solution is adding more faces and names while trying to sort out who is going to play on the field and who will develop. Wisconsin has not had the luxury, with Fickell finally breaking 40 with a 44 man class this past season. Previously, Chryst ended his tenure with 21 total commitments during the 2022 cycle and 15 high school commitments in the 2023 class before being fired.

Talent needs to come through the doors and the calculated approach works as long as enough game-ready bodies are still on the roster. Chryst failed to continue to add that influx of talent into the program while Fickell failed to recognize such an issue until now. The coach is pumping talent into the program with names like Amari Latimer and Jayden Petit scheduled to join, which could be a sign of a brighter future as more of the youth on the roster begins to play.

Keeping Luke Fickell Reason #3: Buyout Costs Could Force the Wisconsin Badgers to Wait

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh continues to reiterate that Fickell is the man for the job and that the coach has the full faith of the program. McIntosh seems willing to give Fickell more time to do his job despite the team falling flat on many early expectations this season, and there could be a $25.4 million reason as to why.

Technically, there are two reasons why, but the first one of the hefty price tag that Fickell carries with him this season as a potential buyout of his contract looms. Buying Fickell out this year would cost the program a base amount of $25.4 million, whereas waiting until say 2027 would drop that price down to $12.8 million. Waiting until 2027 or at least until the current price drops makes sense to Wisconsin, especially when considering the other factor.

Coach Fickell has special language in his contract which states that Wisconsin would have to pay 80% of his remaining contract out should he be fired or bought out. The contract is slated to officially end in 2029, and then such a factor would not matter, but until then the process of getting rid of the coach would actually be much higher. Currently, Wisconsin would set a collegiate sports record should the program decide that Fickell can no longer lead the Badgers.