Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh has decided he wants to run Luke Fickell back out there in 2026, regardless of what the evidence tells him. In fact, he's clearly speaking from his heart and not his brain when he talks about Luke Fickell. The idea for this list came out of what he said about Fickell yesterday in an interview with Jesse Temple.
McIntosh said this about Fickell: "He has the vision and fire to do it. The same things that made Luke Fickell a unanimously great hire in 2022 remain. He's a winner, program builder, and developer of talent, and he understands the Big Ten."
Yet none of that is true, or at least hasn't been seen as accurate at Wisconsin. Here's a list of 11 reasons why Luke Fickell should be fired, along with facts McIntosh is blatantly ignoring.
1. Luke Fickell has changed visions or has never had one
The first thing McIntosh says is that Fickell has "the vision." What vision? Was it the one that he first came with and the air-raid? Or was it the balanced football approach? He's already changed visions in just a few years. Or worse, he doesn't have a vision at all, and he's winging it.
2. Luke Fickell has shown little fire
Look, there's a photo of Fickell mad at the top of this article, but that was about a bad call. He's shown a lack of fire everywhere else. His motivation of his players is lacking, his overseeing of coaches is lackluster, he seems disengaged during games, and in his press conference, he seems depressed.
Sure, the results are probably doing that to him, but most of the time, his answer to how to fix it is, "I don't know." You could create a drinking game around him, saying "I don't know," and you'd be dead.
3. Luke Fickell is not a winner at Wisconsin
McIntosh is bold enough to describe Fickell as a winner. Yet, he's been everything but that at Wisconsin. He's now 15-19 at Wisconsin and 8-15 in the Big Ten. If we take out the first year, that roster he inherited from Paul Chryst, he's 3-11 in Big Ten play. He hasn't won a conference game in 13 months. He's actually a loser at Wisconsin.
4. Luke Fickell is not a developer of talent
McIntosh also described Fickell as a developer of talent in that quote above. Name one singular player he's developed. Name one. You can't; they all either came to him pre-developed or just got older while playing at Wisconsin. His time at Wisconsin can better be understood as underutilizing his talent.
5. Luke Fickell doesn't understand the Big Ten
Not much more to say about this, but McIntosh listed this as one of the reasons Fickell is great. Yet, how would you say he understands the Big Ten? He literally loses to all the teams in the Big Ten, and each year it gets worse, not better.
6. Luke Fickell doesn't embrace former players
The history of Wisconsin football is vibrant, and yet Fickell basically ignores the former players. Recently, Collin Wilder discussed the problem Fickell has.
7. Luke Fickell is failing at recruiting the state of Wisconsin
It should be absolutely fireable in its own right, not to recruit the state of Wisconsin well. Yet, the best players are leaving, and many are leaving for Minnesota. That can't be happening on a consistent basis, and yet Fickell doesn't care. The local high schools described him as not engaged in recruiting the area schools. Yikes.
8. Luke Fickell can't recruit the transfer portal to save his life
There have been a couple of players that have worked out in the transfer portal but most have been a big swing and miss. Yet, this is what McIntosh wants to invest more in. Where has Fickell proven he can do this well?
9. Luke Fickell has a worse record each season at Wisconsin
The easiest metric to look at is this. He has lost more games each season, which shows the wrong direction. He's gone from 7-6 to 5-7 to 2-6 (so far). He would have to win out to show any sort of progress this year, and yet the stronger bet is to lose out.
10. Luke Fickell seems to not prepare his team to play rivalries
In the last two seasons, Wisconsin has been absolutely unprepared to play in the rivalry games. Last season, they lost 42-10 to Iowa and 24-7 to Minnesota. This season, Fickell had a player get a penalty before the Iowa game even started, only to go on and lose 37-0. Unprepared and undisciplined.
11. Luke Fickell has the absolute worst offense in the power 4
Phil Longo was bad, and yet somehow this year is worse. They are the worst-scoring offense in the Power 4 and the second-worst offense in all of the FBS. It's really, really bad.
There's probably more, but 11 is plenty to fire a coach. Many coaches are fired for far less than this. He needs to go; he's bad at his job, yet McIntosh said he's a winner —and that he won't measure success by wins and losses. Insanity.