After two seasons and plenty of time to reflect, Wisconsin Badgers coach Luke Fickell has finally admitted some program dreams are still far away.
Fickell, the former Cincinnati coach who seemingly brought the Bearcats back into relevance, entered Madison with what he himself described as “delusion and arrogance”. The Badgers hired Fickell nearly half a season after firing coach Paul Chryst, which was a controversial firing at the time that some fans still debate to this day.
Upon his hiring, Fickell stated he entered the Big Ten Conference feeling as though Wisconsin was the “best”, but now understands that both the team and himself were not in a position to be the “best” yet.
Wisconsin Badgers Head Coach Luke Fickell Gets Brutally Honest About First Two Seasons in Madison
With the Wisconsin Badgers snapping a historic bowl streak this past season, it appears as though Fickell has plenty of work left ahead, but the question is whether or not the coach can pull the Badgers to the heights he initially committed to.
Nothing about the short tenure in Madison has been easy for the young coach thus far, between heavy staff turnover and a critical fanbase desperate for a high-caliber winning team. Fickell has seen nearly a dozen staff changes in two seasons, with some forced changes along the way, and has not exactly been the “favorite” of some hardcore Wisconsin Badgers fans and journalists. Wisconsin recently extended the contract of Luke Fickell, which in turn caused many Badgers fans to take to social media to exhaust every emotion.
However, Fickell is the first person willing to admit the program has fallen far from the high expectations the coach set while also admitting the expectations should have never been set that high initially. Fickell also admitted that he had previously had a tough time with “honesty” and being realistic with himself despite potentially “de-motivating” the team.
The first step in completing this goal in the eyes of the coach is getting to work and to “figure out how Coach (Barry) Alvarez and them took this place to become the best in the West.”
What Could Luke Fickell Learn From the Wisconsin Badgers Football Legend Barry Alvarez?
For Fickell, perhaps diving into what made the tenure of Alvarez in Madison so special will propel the future of Wisconsin football into prosperity.
Alvarez broke into the world of head coaching in 1990 with the Wisconsin Badgers and held his title until 2005, appearing back on the staff twice in 2012 and 2014 as an interim coach. During his tenure in Madison, Alvarez compiled a career record of 119-73-4 as a head coach which included three Big Ten Conference Championships in the 1990’s.
Both on and off of the field the former Nebraska linebacker developed a reputation for expecting two things out of all of his players: a love for football and unteachable toughness. Alvarez eyed players who he felt had a special passion for the game of football, which in turn likely allowed for a better product on the field as well as an impressive career coaching record.
Luke Fickell has long been known as a coach who fishes for the same type of gritty and passionate talent that is truly becoming hard to find with the impact of NIL money especially. Fickell has worked to emulate the same type of environment and expectations for players that Alvarez had done, but not without missing one key element thus far into his tenure.
The Wisconsin Badgers were once feared in terms of in-state recruiting during the tenure of Alvarez, which in the defense of Fickell was something that had been crumbling before his hiring. However, the Wisconsin Badgers are no longer the premier program athletes from the state want to attend with the growth of new opportunities across the country.
Every last recruit cannot be expected to become a member of the Badgers, but top talent such as Owen Strebig, Tre Poteat, Garrett Sexton, and Corey Smith would not have left Wisconsin under the watchful eye of Alvarez. Retention and development is one thing, but securing top talent down the street is a must moving forward for Fickell.
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