Wisconsin Badgers football coach Luke Fickell hasn’t been winning games the past three years in Madison. Apparently, he is not only unlikable, but he also puts his players at a disadvantage to make the NFL.
As one NFL scout shared, Fickell is a known liar.
"He's like, 'Not only is Fickle disliked by most NFL teams because he's not a likable guy, but he's a liar,'' John Middlekauf said on the "3 & Out” podcast. "And I was like, I didn't know. I just assume Fickle is kind of like a Mike Vrabel. They're like, 'No, people can't stand the guy.'"
Certainly, that should make Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh’s job easier. Especially since he’s already on the phone calling recruits to keep the 2026 recruiting class intact. Keeping Fickell is malpractice, and a good way to drive interest in the Badgers down as the temperature drops and basketball season begins.
Politics could keep Luke Fickell in Wisconsin
Fickell goes as McIntosh goes. The two could be fired in tandem, but the reality is that there’s a slim chance McIntosh goes because one of Wisconsin’s biggest donors, Milwaukee-based businessman Ted Kellner, doesn’t see either of them as a problem.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
“I think Luke’s a good coach. His resume would say that. But I’m not the guy, nor is anybody else, whether it’s a fan (or media member), I don’t think that we’re qualified to make decisions on that. Chris McIntosh is smart, and he knows what he’s doing. And if I’m the boss or the overseer, our chancellor or whomever, Chris is smart and he’s good, and I believe that Luke Fickell is a good football coach,” Kellner recently told BadgerExtra.
As long as the moneymen feel their spending is adequate and don’t want to fork over more for a buyout, of which Fickell’s is $25 million, and a coaching replacement, then there won’t be a change.