Wisconsin's Luke Fickell gets brutalized by ESPN as hot seat talks ramp up ahead of season
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Wisconsin's Luke Fickell gets brutalized by ESPN as hot seat talks ramp up ahead of season originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Wisconsin Badgers aren't the Big Ten juggernaut they used to be. Entering a breaking point in the Luke Fickell era, this fall is the time for Fickell to prove he's still a worthy investment in Madison for the Badgers' program.
Under 100 days remain until the Badgers take the field as they brace for one of the toughest schedules in the Big Ten (and college football overall), which ESPN highlighted in a recent story with an extended preview of the sport's landscape, broken into multiple categories.
Fickell ranked No. 3 amongst the coaches with the shortest room for error (or better yet, what his potential hot seat represents).
ESPN's overview quietly coincides with anonymous Big Ten coaches' rhetoric from every angle in Athlon Sports' annual preview.
This included Fickell, of course, who was pressed over multiple team flaws, including inconsistent quarterback play, failure to close out games and a disconnect in point differential.
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"They scored 81 points in nine conference games," one coach said. "I don’t care who your quarterback is. That speaks to a lot of bigger issues than just the quarterback position."
Another coach took a much harsher stance, categorizing the Badgers as one of the league's worst teams, regardless of how the metrics are quantified.
“Truthfully, I was surprised that both Wisconsin and Maryland decided to run it back with their head coaches," another coach admitted. "I wasn’t really impressed with either one of those teams. It almost felt like they didn’t really know who the next guy was gonna be, so they decided they’d rather have a year to prepare a move like that.”
Amongst Wisconsin's toughest games are a neutral-site game against Notre Dame and road games against Penn State, UCLA and Iowa. It'll host USC and Minnesota, plus draw young Purdue and Michigan State teams under second-year coach Barry Odom and newly-minted first-year coach Pat Fitzgerald (in his second conference stint since his firing from Northwestern after the 2022 season), respectively.
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Should the Badgers miss a bowl game again, it appears inevitable that a coaching change is needed.
But only time will tell.
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