Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers are in the market for a new wide receivers coach after moving their current one to quarterbacks coach. In a move reported a couple of days ago, Kenny Guiton, a former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback, has shifted his role on the Wisconsin staff to overseeing the quarterbacks. Now, Fickell will be looking for a new coach to oversee the wide receivers. Here are five names that Fickell should consider:
1. Jordan Reid
Reid was the first name linked to the opening by Jon McNamara of Rivals, and it's an intriguing option. Reid is currently the wide receivers coach for Western Michigan. Reid was hired out of Wake Forest, where he helped the offensive as a quality control coach. He was a graduate assistant in Ohio before, where he played as a wide receiver. It's not a flashy hire, but it is an up-and-coming coach in the wide receiver world.
Next domino to fall: Western Michigan's Jordan Reid is a name to watch for #Wisconsin's WR opening to replace Kenny Guiton.
— Jon McNamara (@McNamaraRivals) January 4, 2025
2. Joker Phillips
This would be a bit more of a flashy hire. Phillips was a head coach at Kentucky at one point, where he failed by many standards but has excelled in all his assistant roles (even at Kentucky). He has spent most of his career as the wide receiver coach at various stops. He works as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for NC State. He is known for being an amazing recruiter, and Wisconsin could use his prowess in those circles.
Phillips and Fickell know each other from their shared coaching experience at Cincinnati Bearcats. While they didn't overlap, they share some of the same roots.
3. David Gru
Gru is one of the hottest names in the wide receiver coaching market. He serves on the SMU coaching staff under Rhett Lashlee, and he's known for developing elite receivers from underrated recruits. It would be worth a call to see if he would be interested.
4. Jeff Scott
He's another name that Wisconsin should call, but he may say no. He is currently unemployed, and last served as a head coach for USF. All his positions before that were in some way related to the wide receivers or offensive game. He made his name at Clemson, where he worked with some of the top receivers in the nation from 2008 to 2019. According to TigerNet, he's not interested in coming back to coaching, but he would be worth a call.
5. Drew Mehringer
Mehringer has coached all over the country and is currently the tight ends coach at Oregon. He has mostly been a wide receivers coach in his career, and the position before Oregon was at New Mexico, where he was co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He has been the wide receivers coach at Houston, Texas, and Florida Atlantic. He is known for being one of the brightest and most innovative offensive schemers.
Dan Lanning has said this about Mehringer, "Drew is one of the top young offensive minds in college football with an impressive history coaching multiple different positions... He was once the youngest play caller in the Power 5, and that experience will be very beneficial as we develop our offense. Our student-athletes are going to love working with Coach Mehringer and will learn a ton from him both as football players and as young men."
It will be interesting to see who Fickell goes after, but the goal is to bring in a coach who can actually help improve the offense and bring about a more successful 2025 season.