Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh has caught the ire of Wisconsin fans for how he's handled the football program under Luke Fickell. From the initial coaching contract that tied the university's hands, it is unwilling to cut the cord when Fickell seems to be making the football team worse, not better. Now, he's promised Fickell will be back next year. Yet, the dumbest thing any athletic director may have ever said came out of McIntosh today about Fickell.
"I think the priority for me is to continue to build the program in a way that puts us in a position to achieve those expectations." McIntosh told Jesse Temple, "That comes in many forms and is not limited to wins and losses. There are so many factors that contribute to that."
We’re no longer counting wins and losses in football games. What a joke and a slap in the face of every alum and fan https://t.co/46rboOG7jv
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 6, 2025
Insane statement for an AD: Chris McIntosh said success isn't measured by wins and losses
Related: Wisconsin AD tries justifying why he won't fire Luke Fickell and it makes no sense
It's actually laughable that an athletic director of a Big Ten, proud program, can look another man in the eye and tell them that success isn't measured by wins and losses. That's incredible. It's a loser mentality; it's a person who doesn't care. That's literally the only metric any serious program considers.
There are factors that may need to be included as subcategories under wins and losses, like developing men, helping the community, and succeeding in the classroom, but at the end of the day, those aren't the main success metrics. The primary tool you use for a football program in the Big Ten is WINS and LOSSES, and it's insane to say otherwise.
Coaches of Little League Baseball teams say that it's more than wins and losses. D3 programs that can't afford scholarships say it's more than wins and losses. Even football teams that know they can't keep up with the Ohio States, Alabamas, LSUs, etc., may think this, BUT they would never say it out loud.
When McIntosh fired Paul Chryst, his reasoning was that Wisconsin is meant to be competing for championships and now a few years later it's "wins and losses aren't the main metric." Wow.
Chris McIntosh revealed he doesn't care and doesn't know how to do his job, which is a firable and embarrassing admission of incompetence.