Since head coach Luke Fickell arrived in Madison, the Wisconsin Badgers have seen many changes on their coaching staff, as they’ve looked to right the ship.
Back in 2023, when he was hired, Fickell brought in a brand new coaching staff on both sides of the ball, led by offensive coordinator Phil Longo and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel.
Here’s what the rest of that offensive staff looked like:
Running Backs Coach: Devon Spalding
Wide Receivers Coach: Mike Brown
Tight Ends Coach: Nate Letton
Offensive
Line Coach: Jack Bicknell Jr.
Of those five top assistants, only Nate Letton is still with the Badgers.
Spalding left this offseason for the Michigan State running backs coach job. Brown left for Notre Dame after one year and was replaced by Kenny Guiton. Guiton later moved to quarterbacks coach and was replaced by Jordan Reid, who left this offseason for the Atlanta Falcons. Jack Bicknell Jr. was let go after a year and replaced by AJ Blazek, who was replaced by Eric Mateos this offseason after two seasons.
Of course, we also know that Phil Longo was let go after two years and replaced by Jeff Grimes last offseason. That’s quite a bit of change overall.
Defensively, the Badgers have also seen some change. Tuf Borland has been promoted and has now taken over the inside linebackers job to keep Mike Tressel purely as the defensive coordinator. The safeties coach role has flipped a few times and is now Jack Cooper. And Robert Steeples was brought in as the cornerbacks coach this offseason, with Paul Haynes moving to the secondary coach role.
Are the Badgers having too much turnover on their coaching staff?
Offensively, it makes sense why the Badgers made a few of their moves. A lot of those position groups were struggling, and the offense has been subpar for three years. But there’s also been a couple of coaches that have left, leaving Wisconsin forced to make some moves.
That happened this offseason, as Jordan Reid and Devon Spalding both left, prompting the Badgers to hire Ari Confesor and Jayden Everett at those positions. When new coaches are brought into the fold, there’s a learning curve for the coach and the players during spring ball. That’s what’s happening for the Badgers right now.
“I think the first thing is bringing in guys who are the right fit,” offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said about the new coaches. “Bringing in guys who understand and believe in the way that we’re trying to score points and the way, even on a larger scale, the way that we want to go about building the culture here of this team. I think the guys that we hired are that. So that makes it easier in terms of integrating new ideas. Every year is an opportunity to do that.
“Spring ball is kind of like a lab. So it gives us an opportunity to try some of those new things. And so whether it’s a new running back coach who maybe has coached something a little bit differently than the way I’ve done it before, or whether it’s one of our coaches who was here last year who’s saying, ‘Hey, you know, I studied this from the Rams this off season and they run this play like this,’ I think we ought to think about implementing it. I believe in being a great collaborator and, you know, I think finding ways to enable everybody to feel like they have ownership is one of the things I really try to do. And so bringing in new guys just adds to that.”
Turnover can hurt when it comes to bringing players up to speed. But sometimes the moves are necessary. In a big year for the program, we’ll see how impactful this Badgers staff can be.
