Rather than learn vicariously through somebody else's failures, Wisconsin would rather experience them all first-hand. Brian Kelly stuck out like a sore thumb during his four seasons at LSU. He came into town schmoozing and pandering to anyone who would listen to him, patronizing a state and a program he thought he was better than the entire time. It is why LSU eventually devoured him whole.
While Luke Fickell is an infinitely better human than Kelly, because most people with a pulse are, he goes together with Wisconsin football like lamb and tuna fish. When the square peg does not fit in the round hole, there is no reason to senselessly try to jam it in there for the umpteenth time in a row. Fickell's inability to have any clue regarding offensive football has destroyed the Wisconsin Badgers.
Although it has never felt that Fickell has conducted himself in a manner of being bigger and better than the program he leads like Kelly made a borderline hall-of-fame career out of, the fact he thought he could run an Air Raid offense in Madison, Wisconsin was the biggest red flag of them all. He failed to recognize what once dismantled Arkansas football when Bret Bielema made his way to Fayetteville.
You have to find a head coach who fits a program like hand in glove, while Fickell is more foot in glove.
If Wisconsin is so smart, it should learn from Brian Kelly's failures at LSU
Yes, the nature of the LSU job opening up has only further complicated things for Wisconsin. The best job that could become available in this cycle just did. LSU is arguably a top-five job in the sport. Would Wisconsin even be a top-five job opening up in this cycle? With the way that Fickell and his staff have torn away at the very fabric of Badgers football, it might only be a top-10 job this winter...
LSU is in the midst of figuring out what kind of historic buyout the university will be paying Kelly to go relax on a beach somewhere. Louisiana is not a wealthy state at all. There will be an economic impact felt by his termination. Yet, LSU fans and its boosters wanted Kelly gone immediately. Wisconsin has big-pocketed boosters and rich alumni, but do any of them still actually care about college football?
For as long as Chris McIntosh is employed, he will continue to thumbscrew everything he touches into an oblivion. Until Jennfer Mnookin wakes up and realizes that sports actually matter to a university's overall health and viability, this sad bag of crap will be allowed to continue. The right head coach to lead Wisconsin is out there, but it is up to the powers at be to locate, pursue, and hire him.
In the end, it is often hard to distinguish good from great from excellent. However, bad is bad is bad! Failure is not flattering. It is painfully awkwared to endure both close and from afar. Nothing Fickell has done in three years has made Wisconsinites want to walk around with a Bucky Badger chest puffed with pride. So rather than Jump Around, either just stand pat, or just not show up to any more games.
LSU beating Wisconsin to the punch to fire its unsuccessful head coach has spoken volumes to fans.