New Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell has been making moves in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail in his first month on the job. He has also been fleshing out his new coaching staff. On Friday, he officially announced three new coaches for the offensive side of the ball and two will be joining him from Cincinnati. Associate head coach and wide receivers coach Mike Brown is on board as is passing game coordinator and tight ends coach Gino Guidugli.
Welcome to Madison, @GinoGuidugli!#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/rbUcmFrAVu
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) January 6, 2023
Guidugli joins the Badgers staff after being with the Bearcats since 2017. Throughout his tenure in Cincinnati he coached the running backs, quarterbacks, and was the passing game coordinator. In his last season there he was promoted to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
“I’m grateful to Coach Fickell for giving me this opportunity and I’m looking forward to helping this offense maximize its potential. I can’t wait to start working with the tremendous young men we have in this program and helping them succeed both on and off the field,” Guidugli said in a press release from UW.
Gino Guidugli has experience with talented quarterbacks
While coaching the QBs at Cincy, Guidugli was key in mentoring Desmond Ridder, who finished his career as the AAC career leader in touchdowns (116) and total yards (12,419) while also being selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Ridder was back-to-back AAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021 and won the third-most games in FBS history (44) during his career.
Guidugli, a former Cincinnati quarterback himself, played professionally in the Arena League and the Canadian Football League, playing two seasons in Green Bay with the Blizzard of AFL2 in 2007 and again in 2009 and one with Milwaukee Mustangs of the AFL in 2012. In college, Guidugli set all sorts of program records (many of which were later broken by Ridder) like passing yards (11,453), attempts (1,556), completions (880), and TD passes (78).
Before joining the Bearcats coaching staff, Guidugli worked at Central Michigan where he was offensive coordinator and QBs coach in his last season. Previously he was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator after being promoted from graduate assistant.
“The history and tradition of Wisconsin football speaks for itself and I’m excited to be a part of that,” Guidugli said. He’ll have plenty of chances to enrich that history with the talented passers that the staff has already brought into Madison this offseason.
