What Went Wrong during the Chris McIntosh era

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The Wisconsin Badgers had some major changes this offseason following the sudden departure of Athletic Director Chris McIntosh, who left the program for a role at the Big Ten following the football team’s worst season since 1990.

McIntosh had been in the Badgers front office since 2014 and the Athletic Director since 2021, with his biggest move being the hire of head coach Luke Fickell, who has gone 16-21 in three years at Wisconsin. However, after extending a vote of confidence in his head coach and pushing more resources towards the football team, McIntosh abruptly left, forcing Wisconsin to find a new Athletic Director.

That came together last month, as Wisconsin hired Texas Deputy Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst, who was a Deputy Athletic Director at Wisconsin from 2006-11 before stints at Miami and Nebraska as an Athletic Director there.

Now, the Badgers are moving forward and embracing the NIL era, as they seek better results in 2026 than they’ve had through the first three years of Fickell’s tenure.

Speaking to The Athletic’s Justin Williams last month, Fickell outlined how last season transpired, including the option that McIntosh gave him to depart amidst Wisconsin’s six-game losing streak. Ultimately, the head coach stayed through, and is now looking forward to 2026.

“[Chris McIntosh] asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’” Fickell said in an interview with The Athletic. “‘You’re at a crossroads. Where are we headed here? Either you’re all in, or find an escape route.’”

“There’s nothing I would rather do than pull ourselves out of where we are,” Fickell told McIntosh the next day, per the report.

Unfortunately, his boss didn’t end up doing the same, ending a tenure that was mired by mixed results, with the biggest issues coming with the front office’s handling of NIL.

“The falloff isn’t a mystery. Fickell, 52, acknowledges that he and McIntosh were reluctant to embrace the modern roster-budget reality of college football,” Williams wrote. “Wisconsin lagged behind its peers in name, image and likeness dollars and wrongfully believed the new revenue-sharing cap would level the financial playing field.”

Wisconsin’s approach to NIL had been significantly flawed over the last few years, and it was clear that McIntosh understood that in his vote of confidence for Fickell last year, as he wrote in a letter that Wisconsin needed to give Fickell better resources to compete in 2026 when announcing his return.

“Coach Fickell sees the potential in what this team can be, as do I, and he shares the same disappointment and frustration,” Williams wrote, quoting the letter. “As a department we must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed.”

Wisconsin’s roster is expected to be worth over $25 million this year, over six times more than it was just two seasons ago when its roster cost only $4 million, according to the article.

There have been other issues too. Fickell missed on his out-of-the-box hire with Phil Longo as his offensive coordinator, as the style significantly differed from where Wisconsin had historically been good at. Injuries had ravaged the roster in multiple seasons, especially at quarterback. And the Badgers had struggled to find an identity as they veered away from “Wisconsin” football.

But the NIL issues were the clear biggest problem under McIntosh, as Wisconsin clearly was behind the times before finally catching up this offseason. Had they been ahead and more competitive financially a couple of seasons ago, then perhaps they’re not in the position they currently find themselves in.

Now, money isn’t the end-all-be-all, as we’ve seen with certain teams in both college football and basketball. You need to win on the field. And Fickell is at a major inflection point in his career with a big need to win in 2026. But it’ll be clear what decisions Wisconsin needs to make going forward after seeing how this 2026 team performs.

If they do well, especially on the offensive side of the ball, Wisconsin should be a more attractive spot going forward for players who can trust in the results of the system, knowing also the Badgers can financially compete. And if the struggles continue, it’ll be time for Wisconsin to head in a different direction.

There’s a lot of optimism heading into 2026 surrounding Fickell’s group of guys. But to get to this point, there have been a lot of bumps in the road, as we saw throughout Chris McIntosh’s tenure.

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