It's been known for weeks now, since Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh sent out a memo from his office supporting Luke Fickell, but ESPN has confirmed it today. Wisconsin will run Luke Fickell back out there for another season, even after the disaster that this football year has brought to the university. Pete Thamel is reporting that McIntosh has decided the problem is a lack of investment in the roster, not in Fickell's coaching.
Wisconsin fans are going to hate this because it's a classic example of a sunk-cost fallacy. This is an economic term that means instead of pulling the rip cord on a project or program that isn't working, the organization will throw more money at it.
NEWS: Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell will return to coach the Badgers in 2026, athletic director Chris McIntosh tells ESPN. The move comes with significant increase in financial investment. https://t.co/8S4JlAIBJH
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 6, 2025
Luke Fickell will be given more money to retool the roster for next season
Related: JJ Watt says he tried to speak into Wisconsin football but 'it failed.'
Each season Luke Fickell has been the coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, it's only gotten worse. Each year brings a worse record and more uncompetitive play. The theory for Chris McIntosh and Wisconsin is that it's not Fickell's problem; they haven't resourced the program enough.
It's an insane theory, but one that McIntosh is deciding to double down on. He told Thamel, "If Wisconsin is going to be as competitive as we expect, the support has to be as competitive."
The hard part with hearing this is that McIntosh admits he's terrible at his job by saying this. He's not a new athletic director; he's been in the role for years, and yet, he's owning that he hasn't done enough to support the football program, that he's been cutting corners financially, and trying to do it the cheap way? That's what it seems like he's saying.
However, it's truly that he doesn't want to pay the $21 million buyout or raise the money for it; instead, he wants to pour more into the roster. It's wrong and fans will hate it, but it's where we are at as a program with the athletic director that Wisconsin has chosen to let make these decisions.