Chris McIntosh Designed Wisconsin’s and Luke Fickell's Failure

If It Ain’t Broke, Break It!

When McIntosh took command as AD in the summer of 2021, Wisconsin was known for its stability, intensely loyal fans who traveled well, and its workarounds in regard to geographical recruiting limitations and tight finances. Alvarez threw around nickels like manhole covers yet Wisconsin won more with less than any other program. Indeed, college football’s version of Moneyball was invented in Madison, WI.

But as McIntosh began his reign, his head coach and a member of the search committee who hired the AD, Paul Chryst, was struggling to revamp his offense because of a new element that he had never previously enjoyed.

Like McIntosh, Chryst was a Wisconsin native. He grew up in Madison, played quarterback for the Badgers, and later was the offensive coordinator for his alma mater. Chryst knew Wisconsin football culture like the back of his hand.

Graham Mertz was not the prototypical game-manager quarterback who served the Badgers so well. Instead, he was a talent that required a more sophisticated passing attack than what Chryst had previously used. After four double-digit win seasons in his first five years as HC with such effective game managers as Alex Hornibrook and Jack Coan under center, Chryst lost his way.

Ironically, the realized dream of an elite, coveted quarterback began Wisconsin's slide into the abyss.  

Wisconsin tried to get fancy in 2021 and fell on its face with a 2-3 start. Only when Chryst went back to the tried-and-true formula of ground-and-pound did Wisconsin recover to finish 9-4 with a Las Vegas Bowl win over Arizona State.

But in 2022, the Badgers again flopped out of the gate with a 2-3 start. Following a 34-10 home loss to former Badger head coach Bret Bielema and the Illinois Fighting Illini, McIntosh and Chryst had a contentious Sunday sit-down that ended with Chryst being fired.

Yet another Wisconsin native and alum, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, finished the season with a record of 4-3. Leonhard’s promotion to permanent HC was considered a fait accompli. But it was not.

Instead, McIntosh went outside the Alvarez tree that had worked so well for 23 years, and things went from bad to worse. 

A Fickell Fish Out of Water 

Luke Fickell is a native of Ohio was a defensive lineman for the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he later served as an assistant, defensive coordinator, and interim head coach. He is an Ohio version of McIntosh, Chryst, and Leonhard. And it shows. Wisconsin has lost its identity, pride, and culture. It is unrecognizable with this Buckeye DNA.  

Since his arrival, Fickell has been an odd fit. He has no concept of the uniqueness and intricacies that made Wisconsin so special and a respected national brand. His offensive vision was to implement a "Dairy Raid" version of the Air Raid, yet he fired his offensive coordinator, Phil Longo, just two games ago in an admission of abject failure.

Fickell remains defiant that Wisconsin will not return to the lumbering days of its past. Instead, UW will try and recruit against other schools for the same talent pool and with much larger NIL bankrolls.

When Wisconsin recruited against the grain for an offense of game-managing quarterbacks, large in-state linemen with character, game-breaking running backs, and nasty defenders, it had most of the necessary recruiting footprint to itself.

Now, by trying to be something it can never be, Wisconsin has lost its identity and contrarian recruiting advantages, which made it so successful and revered.

Under Fickell, there is no there, there.

Time To Go Back to the Future 

“Experts” be damned, the Alvarez formula of ball control, game manager QBs, bruising defenses, and player development is the only vision that has ever sustained success in Madison.

“Experts” will say that today’s programs can’t build with players for four or five years because of NIL and the transfer portal. What they don’t admit is that Wisconsin is failing at the “modern” approach.

Wisconsin must zig while everyone else zags. If the Badgers commit to the only formula that ever worked for the program, they can return to respectability.

By committing to what worked in the past, Wisconsin will have a much wider pool of available talent to recruit and develop. Wisconsin can’t compete with Ohio State for similar talent without Ohio State’s payroll, and trying to do so is a foolhardy folly. Moneyball is the proven answer.

Cries for Fickell’s firing are a waste of time. Wisconsin doesn’t waste money on large coaching buyouts. It’s not the school culture.

Chris McIntosh has handcuffed himself with a stubborn coach who doesn’t fit. He can’t pass the hat for a buyout and probably wouldn’t want to, as it would be an admission of failure regarding his coaching change.

While it is true that McIntosh and Fickell should be fired by sundown with Leonhard returning as HC, it's a pipe dream unless there is a Phil Knight-type benefactor that nobody is aware of.  

In 2025 Wisconsin has probable road game losses against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Indiana Hoosiers, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Golden Gophers, and Oregon Ducks. It has home games it can lose against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Iowa Hawkeyes, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Washington Huskies. Even the season opener against a good MAC program, the Miami-OH Warhawks, could prove dangerous.

Wisconsin's situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. The Badgers are stuck with McIntosh and Fickell and slamming their heads against a brick wall, trying to compete for players who have better options and with schools who have more money.

But, hey, at least they are with the times…