CBS Sports came out with their annual hot seat ranking for all 138 D-1 college football coaches, from "untouchable" to "Win or be fired." The ranking comes from votes based on a scale of 0-5, with a panel of analysts weighing in. Luke Fickell was one of three coaches who received the perfect score of 5 "win or be fired." It was unanimous from the entire panel that Fickell is under a microscope and faces more pressure than any other coach (except 2) in the entire college football world.
Dave Aranda from Baylor and Mike Norvell from Florida State were the other two coaches. All three tied for the hottest of hot seats. No other coach had the unanimous designation. Maryland's Mike Locksley at 4.9, South Carolina's Shane Beamer at 4.3, and Bill Belichick at 4.1 were the only other three that came close.
Fickell's pressure comes from a two-fold problem. The fact that the program continues to decline in the win column over the last few years, from a bowl game when Fickell first arrived to a five-win season to a four-win season. That's fireable enough, but now Fickell has a new athletic director to impress and with not much time to do it. This is a win-or-get-canned season, and CBS Sports is completely right in that assessment. Fickell can't put another 4-win season together.
Luke Fickell has a perfect hotseat score according to CBS and joins Dave Aranda and Mike Norvell
Related: CBS Sports says that Wisconsin has 2 of the best Big Ten rivalries in latest top-10
CBS Sports' analysis of Fickell's situation says this: "Wisconsin has largely admitted that the program was slow to adapt to the new world of NIL and the transfer portal, but Fickell bears much of the responsibility for the error. The Badgers are 16-21 under Fickell and have won fewer games each season. Opening against Notre Dame won't be much fun."
It's really spot on, Fickell is to blame for some of it, and while now he can pass some of that back to the former athletic director, Chris McIntosh, he has to share a bit of responsibility. He tried to put an offense together that just didn't work at Wisconsin. He also had to pivot on some of his hires, recruiting strategies, PR campaigns, fundraising, roster management, and more.
A lot of the glaring concerns seem to be improving, but hopefully it isn't too little too late for Fickell. Yet, there is one good thing happening for Fickell for 2026, beyond the behind-the-scenes, and it's interesting that CBS mentions the Notre Dame game. The biggest problem for Wisconsin on the schedule next season is Notre Dame. After the opening game of the season, the Badgers have a pretty easy Big Ten schedule, as far as Big Ten schedules go.
There truly is a reality where Wisconsin wins eight games next year. ESPN even has that prediction in place if you go game by game and let the prediction tool do the work. That's a wild world, and would certainly keep Fickell employed. However, the ice is thin, and he has to show improvement, or it will break, and he will fall through.
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