UW Football - It's official. Badgers hire Luke Fickell.

[owbc]

14 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

My understanding is that Fickell was contacted quite a while ago & showed little to no interest, supposedly because he believed what most of us believed--that the job was Leonhard's and UW contacting him was merely part of the facade of making it look like a search. 

This proves one thing: right or wrong, this is some kinda cojones from Mac. The importance ($$$) of football at a power 5 school, at this relatively early stage of his regime to can a FB coach IN SEASON, then in the eyes of most go against the grain with the new hire, I don't think he'll need to attend any self-confidence seminars anytime soon.

It was one thing forge our own path and to do things "the Wisconsin way" when we were winning NY6 bowl games. College football is not the same sport that it was 10, or even 5 years ago. The stakes are higher than ever with Michigan being elite again and USC coming into the conference. Plus the playoff is expanding. It's the worst possible time for a Big Ten program to be headed in the wrong direction. There's no time for "wait and see" on Leonhard. Even a year or two is an eternity. 

Mertz has little to do with any of this. We've sucked ever since Jonathan Taylor left. There was a time not that long ago when we could win games without needing to throw a single pass. All the QB had to do was hit wide open TEs on the play action. One look at this team showed that they don't have the talent to do anything more than the boring offense is run by every team in the bottom half of the Big Ten. 

Fickell isn't Lincoln Riley but he's saying all the right things. He has admired the program. He wants to build on the base that is already here. He will do that immediately by bringing in more recruits. This is nothing like Gary Anderson. Fickell knows the Big Ten. I couldn't be more excited about what a perfect match this is. I'm more optimistic about the future than I have been for a long, long time. 

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, wallus said:

Fickell needs to keep the studs in state and get some skilled position studs from the warm climate areas. You do that, you can win the Big Ten West (which isn't a super high expectation)

Slightly related, but one of the biggest reasons why the 2023 recruiting class for UW is looking the way it does is because 2023 is a very weak year for Wisconsin high school football talent.  Nate White is the only guy UW offered and is probably going to be the only in-state player to go to a P-5 school. 

[homer]

 

[Brewcrew82]

6 minutes ago, homer said:

 

And there's your highest-paid state employee...lol

[Jim French Stepstool]

Just watched the presser. Two of the highlights for me were this line he gave when he met with the players; "Change is inevitable; but success is optional." At this time I thought that was a great message to send. The other was his mention that he was going to be immediately involved in bowl prep, even to the point of doing a touch of on-field coaching in practice. Didn't expect to hear that.

[CheezWizHed]

I'll admit that I'm more content with this move than I'd expected when not going with JL.  It will be interesting what he does with the opportunity.  

[DR28]

Any rumors of Cincy's 4 star QB following Fickel to us? Would be amazing to finally have a good QB!

[RedStickBrew]

55 minutes ago, DR28 said:

Any rumors of Cincy's 4 star QB following Fickel to us? Would be amazing to finally have a good QB!

As of now Fickell has not reached out to the UC QB commit per reports. He will speak with the Badger QB commit today.  I have seen a few decommits from the UC class just as there have been from the UW class.  I would imagine there will be some more player movement once CLF gets his staff in place.

[yourout]

23 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Just watched the presser. Two of the highlights for me were this line he gave when he met with the players; "Change is inevitable; but success is optional." At this time I thought that was a great message to send. The other was his mention that he was going to be immediately involved in bowl prep, even to the point of doing a touch of on-field coaching in practice. Didn't expect to hear that.

I love the fact he wants to dive Right in and start putting his stamp on things.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, DR28 said:

Any rumors of Cincy's 4 star QB following Fickel to us? Would be amazing to finally have a good QB!

I looked over UC's commits, & IMO the most talent there is among the CB-S types and a couple of the TEs. It's understandable everyone would focus on the QB on the list. I've seen him listed as a 3 star as well as a four. Other than that I got nuthin'. It's certainly possible a 1st-year guy could come in and start immediately, but personally I wouldn't count on it.

There's also a lot of speculation about portal help. Sure, some guys will leave & others will join, that's the monster the NCAA has created. It happens everywhere. Fickell just doesn't strike me as the type who is going to heavily lean on that as a building block.

[nate82]

2 hours ago, DR28 said:

Any rumors of Cincy's 4 star QB following Fickel to us? Would be amazing to finally have a good QB!

Mertz was also a 4-star recruit.  I think the rankings are a little bit irrelevant when it comes to QB's especially if you are not able to get a 4-star performance out of the recruit like the Badgers have done with Mertz. 

[Samurai Bucky]

On 11/28/2022 at 4:58 PM, Brewcrew82 said:

And there's your highest-paid state employee...lol

Greg Gard is going to ask for a raise!  $3.55MM is chump change compared to Fickell's.

[JosephC]

TE-Khamari Anderson has decommitted from Cincinnati.  He was considered to be one of the 3 or 4 best prospect in their class prior to all the decommits happening.  He'd be a nice grab for Bucky.

[patrickgpe]

Reports are that UC’s DC Tressel is coming to UW. I would imagine that that means Leonard isn’t unless UW would have co-DC’s but I can’t imagine JL would be cool with that demotion. 

[nate82]

24 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

Reports are that UC’s DC Tressel is coming to UW. I would imagine that that means Leonard isn’t unless UW would have co-DC’s but I can’t imagine JL would be cool with that demotion. 

There was an interview with Fickel over at the Athletic where he has talked with JL and they were supposed to meet again this week.  The way it read and from how Fickel was describing the talks with JL is that he is probably not coming back.  The decision is all on JL if he wants to come back but it sounded like JL wouldn't be the DC if he would come back. 

I think JL is leaving and that is OK with me.  He is a great DC but I think he wants to be a HC somewhere and I believe he will go somewhere where he can go from DC to HC.  I don't see JL going to the NFL and I think he will go to Nebraska or to an SEC team.  I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the HC job at Colorado or Stanford.  Stanford would be very similar to UW recruiting wise.

[patrickgpe]

16 minutes ago, nate82 said:

There was an interview with Fickel over at the Athletic where he has talked with JL and they were supposed to meet again this week.  The way it read and from how Fickel was describing the talks with JL is that he is probably not coming back.  The decision is all on JL if he wants to come back but it sounded like JL wouldn't be the DC if he would come back. 

I think JL is leaving and that is OK with me.  He is a great DC but I think he wants to be a HC somewhere and I believe he will go somewhere where he can go from DC to HC.  I don't see JL going to the NFL and I think he will go to Nebraska or to an SEC team.  I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the HC job at Colorado or Stanford.  Stanford would be very similar to UW recruiting wise.

I could also see Cincinnati as well. Especially if fickell takes their oc with him. 
let’s be honest, if Trent Dilfer can get a coaching job, Jim Leonhard should be one too. 

[JosephC]

I really don't see any reason for Leonhard wanting to stick around or UW wanting him to stick around.  He was obviously hurt by not getting the head coaching job.  Prior to this I only thought he would leave for a head coaching job, now I think he'd jump at any "decent" defensive coordinator job that would pop up.

McIntosh is probably praying that Leonhard does not go to Nebraska.  With as bad as Nebraska has been, coupled with the fact that Bucky keeps getting win after win against them, if Leonhard goes there and with Ruhle improves them to the point where they are better than Wisconsin...McIntosh might get run right out of Madison.

[JosephC]

12 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

I could also see Cincinnati as well. Especially if fickell takes their oc with him. 
let’s be honest, if Trent Dilfer can get a coaching job, Jim Leonhard should be one too. 

I thought that whole Dilfer thing was a joke/PR thing, but his resume is pretty impressive.  3 state championship games in 4 years in Tennessee, and there is generally pretty good talent in that state.  Certainly not a resume that would earn a head coaching job at a school like Auburn, but looks good enough for a school like UAB.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I think the best shot---"best" being relative---of Leonhard coming to some kind of agreement with Fickell to stay would've been if Tressel was considered for and gotten the Cincy HC job. But their OC was the leader in that clubhouse from the get-go, unless they do an outside hire.

[JosephC]

Jeff Potrykus (Journal-Sentinel) is reporting it's likely the Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach Mike Tressel and Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach Colin Hitschler will come with Fickell.  Hard to see Leonhard fitting in if that's the case.  Also talks about how Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Gino Guidugli could come, but could end up the Head Coach at Cincinnati.  Also calls Wide Receivers Coach/Passing Game Coordinator Mike Brown a candidate.

Cincinnati had another decommit yesterday, a 6-2, 180 lb safety out of Ohio named Braedyn Moore.

[patrickgpe]

When Shaka came to Marquette, this is what happened, all of his recruits followed. Fickell seems like a coach like Smart, very personable, a guy players want to play for. I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of these guys followed him. Plus playing in the BIG is much better than the Big 12 / AAC. 

[yourout]

Have not heard anything either way but I'm assuming the Badgers will be in the pinstripe bowl and the rumor was it would be against Pitt.

[Samurai Bucky]

Maybe with possibly losing recruits like Amare Snowden will convince McIntosh to bring baseball back to Wisconsin?

[RedStickBrew]

6 hours ago, yourout said:

Have not heard anything either way but I'm assuming the Badgers will be in the pinstripe bowl and the rumor was it would be against Pitt.

Current projections I have seen appear to be pretty much split between either Pinstripe or Guaranteed Rate.  There was one scenario where BIG teams were knocked down a notch and would potentially put UW in Detroit.  

[yourout]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

Current projections I have seen appear to be pretty much split between either Pinstripe or Guaranteed Rate.  There was one scenario where BIG teams were knocked down a notch and would potentially put UW in Detroit.  

Ugh.... Anything but Detroit.