The Wisconsin Badgers were in the headlines this week, as Athletic Director Chris McIntosh made the announcement that head coach Luke Fickell would return to the program in 2026, putting an end to speculation
on his future.
Fickell’s future has been in question this season, as Wisconsin has slumped to a 2-6 start, losing each of its last six games by at least 14 points. That has increased the Badgers’ losing streak in the Big Ten to 10 games and a streak against Power 4 opponents to 11 games.
Still, there’s been a significant amount of support for Fickell, with McIntosh relaying two votes of confidence before this week’s announcement, once in a message to select beat reporters and another in a letter to the fans.
Now, the news that has been expected for weeks is confirmed: Fickell will return for a fourth season at Wisconsin.
It’s been a tough start to Fickell’s career at Wisconsin. The Badgers are 15-19 in his first three seasons, including an ugly 8-16 record in the Big Ten. More importantly, Wisconsin has yet to win a marquee game under Fickell and has fallen in rivalry matches to Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska over the last two years.
There have been a number of issues that have plagued the Badgers, with quarterback injuries being at the top, as Fickell has dealt with a significant injury to his starting quarterback in three straight seasons.
But, there’s also been developmental issues, game situation concerns, and questionable coaching hires that have raised questions about whether Fickell can be the guy at Wisconsin.
Did Chris McIntosh make the right decision to keep Fickell around for the 2026 season? Let’s break it down.
The players
The biggest part of the equation here is the players. We saw just two weeks ago that this team is still fighting hard for their head coach, especially defensively. That’s why it’s been such a questionable decision to keep Hunter Simmons as the starting quarterback until Saturday, given how poorly he’s played.
But, Wisconsin’s roster has gone through a few overhauls. We saw a lot of Fickell’s hand-picked recruits in the Class of 2023 depart this offseason, despite some having a clear path to playing time. We’ve also seen the Badgers heavily rely on the transfer portal, despite Fickell sharing at his introductory presser that Wisconsin would be a program that relied on high school recruiting within a 350-mile radius.
Now, the portal has become extremely prevalent in today’s world of college football, but that makes it that much more important to hit on the players you’re bringing in, which Wisconsin has really struggled to do.
Still, there is a quality core of 2024 and 2025 recruits that the Badgers expect to be big contributors in the future. The hope with an announcement like this week’s is that Fickell will be able to retain those talented pieces and build around them in 2026. If those players start to leave this offseason, however, this move could be a disaster.
Financials
Probably the top concern for the Badgers with a Fickell firing was the financials. Wisconsin would’ve owed Fickell over $25 million at the end of the season, which would’ve been significant. Now, am I really worried that the Badgers don’t have the money for that? No. But, donors probably don’t want to pay a head coach to not coach.
So, having to pay that cost while still looking to field a competitive roster in 2026 with a new coaching staff (meaning more payroll there) may have been tough. That was Fickell’s biggest reason to stay: why pay money to fire the head coach and diminish resources towards the roster when you can pour the money into the roster instead?
On top of that, this is shaping up to be quite a competitive coaching cycle with several major jobs open. And, quite frankly, there aren’t too many surefire head coaches out there available, with many signing extensions in recent weeks.
That could limit the pool for the second-tier jobs like Wisconsin’s, which may set the program back even more. So, it may be smarter to wait for next year when the coaching cycle may not be as busy. Still, there’s movement at the top in any given year, with expectations being high during the portal era.
Execution
The way that Chris McIntosh has handled the Fickell situation this year has definitely been questionable. There were multiple early votes of confidence, despite the Badgers sliding in a major way, which did nothing to quell a discouraged fanbase.
Now, having this news drop the way it did at this point in the season doesn’t seem to fix any of that. Wisconsin very well could end this year 2-10. We’ve seen programs still support their coaches after those seasons (see Florida State and Mike Norvell), but not seeing how the final month plays out to such a disappointing year is definitely an interesting note.
I understand why the Badgers felt they had to do this now: the players. Giving a united message to both the players on the team and the recruits in Wisconsin’s 2026 class was important. We’ll see if this allows those guys to stick, though.
Then, with the execution aspect, there’s the money part of things. Wisconsin definitely spent some money this offseason, most of all at quarterback and on the defensive line. But, they admittedly seemed late to the NIL part of college football and acknowledged that with the need to spend more in McIntosh’s letter to the fans.
Now, in what seems like a potential lost situation, it may be too late to recover.
Wisconsin’s schedule doesn’t get much better in 2026. So, Luke Fickell will have his work cut out for him. And he’ll need much better execution on all fronts if he’s to see progress.
Confidence
The losses clearly eat at Fickell. There’s no question he cares and wants to turn this program around. But, is there any confidence that it can actually happen?
As mentioned above, there have been multiple concerns with this regime, be it roster construction and development, in-game coaching decisions, quarterback play, and more.
Development has been one of my key points. How many players have gotten significantly better, and how much can we really attribute that to the coaching staff? Recruiting has been a good part of Fickell’s tenure, but that needs to translate to wins.
Right now, it feels like Fickell doesn’t really have an answer to the problems Wisconsin faces. And that’s why heading into a fourth year with more money just seems like a lost cause at the moment. Money definitely helps in college football, but Wisconsin is lacking all the other parts in its program, and could very well face another mass exodus this year if it slides to 2-10.
There’s still much to figure out before the season ends, but the confidence that Fickell can turn things around seems at an all-time low.
