It is never the wrong time to do the right thing. For the Wisconsin Badgers, it is to remove head coach Luke Fickell from his duties. Wisconsin had a shot at an upset bid of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night. Iowa was only laying 3.5 points on the road entering this rendition of Heartland. Instead, the Hawkeyes scored 37 unanswered points in their impressive shutout victory over a massive rival.
Yes, a 37-0 home shut out loss is all the proof any Wisconsin booster needs to see to know it is way past time to move on from Fickell. The Badgers have lost four games in a row, all to Power Four competition. They are 0-3 in Big Ten play. Outside of what is going on in State College, there is not a Big Ten school more down on their football team. The Badgers looked like they quit on Fickell tonight.
Whether it was Fickell's decision to go with Hunter Simmons as the starting quarterback for the second week in a row, or having no answer for a Mark Gronowski-led offense, Wisconsin was beyond useless. The Badgers lost a game by 37 points where Iowa completed 18-of-25 passes for 109 yards and an interception. The self-inflicted nature of this bad Wisconsin team has reached a critical mass.
For Wisconsin to get shutout at home for the first time in 45 years, this is undeniably rock bottom...
What Wisconsin needs to do to solve the mess that Luke Fickell created
The first order of business is fire the man before 12:00 p.m. CT tomorrow. This program and fanbase needs some relief. After that, it can name defensive coordinator Mike Tressel interim head coach. Heck, Big Cat from Barstool Sports could do a better job leading his alma mater than Fickell ever could. From there, Wisconsin must identify a long-term solution at head coach that can work here.
What Wisconsin needs to do is get back to its bread and butter. This does not necessarily mean hiring a head coach with ties to the university, but rather a guy who believes in team-first defense, pounding the rock with conviction, and not being an unnecessary meddler when it comes to the offensive side of the football. Honestly, the team had that with one of their own in Jim Leonhard.
Ultimately, we all know a lost cause when we see one. It does not matter how much money Fickell is slated to make on this deal. It was a terrible investment in every sense of the word. Wisconsin may not have abundant resources to buy out Fickell for all that he is worth and land someone of equal substance coming next year. That being said, Fickell has removed all doubt that he has to leave now.
It has to get better for Wisconsin football because it could not possibly be getting any worse here.