It's not news to Wisconsin Badger fans that Luke Fickell is on the hot seat. This has been talked about and showcased in many ways as his 2024 season crumbled around him, eventually leading to a missed bowl and many missed opportunities in the Big Ten. Now that the offseason has begun, college football experts are predicting the coaches will get one more shot, and that's it this season. Luke Fickell is at the top of the list from two different experts.
College Football Head Coach Hot Seat Tiers 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FeZY5KeUBC
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) February 4, 2025
Wisconsin's Luke Fickell has one more chance to save his job as his seat can get no hotter
The top of that list from College Football Report is the category: "Scorching Hot Seat." The list there includes Brent Venables, Hugh Freeze, Mike Norvell, Luke Fickell, and Sam Pittman. The people in that category are the ones that basically are on such thin ice that they have to do something this season, or they are gone.
One of Fansided's college football experts, John Buhler, agrees that Fickell is at the top of the list for coaches who have to figure it out now. In his article ranking the five hottest head football coach's seats, Luke Fickell is ranked number two behind Brent Venables.
"I am very concerned about Luke Fickell's staying power at Wisconsin. The only head coach I feel has less job security than him right now in the Big Ten would have to be Mike Locksley at Maryland. Fickell had great success at Cincinnati previously, but that was when UC competed at the Group of Five level. Over the last two years, Fickell has devolved into a painfully mediocre Power Four head coach."John Buhler
He goes on to explain how he thinks it was a terrible hire to start and that Fickell could perceivably find success somewhere else but thinks this could be the last hurray for him at Wisconsin.