One overlooked angle heading into Saturday afternoon's matchup at Camp Randall between the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Wisconsin Badgers is the status of both head coaches. At one point in time, Luke Fickell and Derek Mason were both hotshot defensive coordinators at strong programs, chomping at the bit to lead one of their own. Flash forward to 2025, and now look at them...
Mason first made a name for himself as an assistant coach on Jim Harbaugh and later David Shaw's Stanford Cardinal's staffs from 2010 to 2013. After an excellent run as the Cardinal's defensive coordinator, he parlayed that into being James Franklin's successor at Vanderbilt. Though nowhere near as good as his predecessor, he took the Commodores to a few bowls, and did beat Tennessee!
After a bowl season in 2018, Mason's career took a turn for the worse. He went 3-18 in his final 21 games leading the 'Dores following their one-score loss to Baylor in the 2018 Texas Bowl. Vanderbilt went 3-9 in 2019 and then 0-8 before he got fired midway through the COVID season. 13 games into his Middle Tennessee tenure, and the Blue Raiders are equal shades of abysmal with a 3-10 record.
Fickell is not Mason, but he must take control of Wisconsin's narrative like Mason could not at Vandy.
Luke Fickell must not lose the plot like Derek Mason did at Vanderbilt
Let's be real. Anything short of a blowout home victory over the Blue Raiders will only put Fickell's fickle coaching tenure back into focus. With the Alabama game feeling like a loser leaves town match up next on the docket in Week 3, Fickell must instill a clear and consistent message with fans, players and boosters. Things can turn on a head coach in a hurry. Mason was well though of, until he was not.
Admittedly, Wisconsin is a far different job than that of Middle Tennessee. That being said, the Blue Raiders are not some plucky upstart Group of Five team that first began playing football during the George W. Bush Administration. They have won over 600 games in program history. They have been to 14 bowl games. Furthermore, they have 13 conference titles in their 114 years of football history.
Comparing Fickell's situation to that of Mason's may be apples to oranges in most instances, but that does not mean the Wisconsin head coach cannot learn vicariously through his Middle Tennessee counterpart in Week 2. There are only so many of these jobs at the Power Four level. Fickell was elite in the Group of Five at Cincinnati, just like Mason was as a defensive coordinator at Stanford in 2013...
Life comes at you fast, especially in football, so the Wisconsin head coach better be ready for it all.