This thing is so cooked that it cannot possibly be salvaged. In the meantime, let's try our best to stomach yet another delightful press conference from Luke Fickell at the helm of the Wisconsin Badgers football program. Rather than firing him after an utterly atrocious 37-0 home blowout loss to Iowa to fall to 2-4 on the year and 0-3 on the season, let's put this man in front of a microphone again!
Like clockwork, Fickell somehow found away to put forth another head-scratching soundbite. This time, it had everything to do with local beat reporters challenging the notion of if Wisconsin has the right team leaders in place to navigate this. Fickell believes he does, but he also seems to be giving off the vibes that he has empowered only "yes men" from within. He is not privy to the truth one bit...
Leadership is not telling someone what they want to hear, but what they have to hear to make it work.
Luke Fickell empowered the wrong leaders from within to rot Wisconsin
Every week, Fickell does this, so let's not be even remotely surprised about what he had to say here.
"I would tell you this that sometimes, sitting with a leadership isn't the best way to gauge the pulse of everything that's going on. Not that they don't tell you, but it's still one of those things that's not the most open. If you're going through the locker room, watching, sitting, looking, listening, I think that has a lot to do with what we need to be able to do, as opposed to tell us everything that they're thinking."
Almost shamelessly, Fickell effectively admitted that he empowered "yes men", only to be let down.
"So whether they've told us exactly how that is. Like sometimes by nature, people tell you what you want to hear. They usually show you what you need to know. I think we've seen a lot of those things. They continue to promote and push the things that we have stressed, and I mean that in the toughest times."
Here is Fickell's entire weekly press conference in the lead-up to Saturday's game vs. Ohio State.
If there is a textbook answer of what leadership looks like, none of that coming out of Wisconsin...
Luke Fickell has done even more damage than expected at Wisconsin
This is something that not enough people realize when it comes to empowering certain people to be leaders. If you do not have the right mix of leaders representing each sector of a team, organization or business, you are bound to fail because certain parts of a larger working body are not being met. If you appoint a bunch of "yes men", then you will become blissfully unaware of the problems that exist.
One of the things that is really troubling here is oftentimes players pick their own leaders, captains and what have you. It is a democracy, but is it really? Just because a guy can articulate a point better than someone else does not mean he has the pulse of the body he is trying to represent. Being a leader is a position of servitude. Unfortunately, this collection of individuals is helping ruin Wisconsin.
The sooner the university can move on from Fickell, the sooner Wisconsin can get back to playing respectable football. This is no longer tolerable. These may be kids, but college football is a big business. Just because they have fun getting their teeth kicked in does not mean it should be allowed to continue. Fickell does not want to hear the truth. He should have never been hired here!
If Penn State can fire James Franklin after a three-game slide, what will it take for Fickell to be gone?!