Wisconsin Football 2025

[owbc]

I’m sure the “Fire Fickell” chant will be great for recruiting this year. I feel bad for the guy, I thought it was a great hire as well but it clearly failed. He’s a lame duck now, 2+ years is an eternity in college football without results. There’s no easy way out of this either, Nebraska has been in this situation for the last 15 years. I would take the L and move on as fast as possible while Wisconsin is still an attractive job. 

[LouisEly]

15 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

It's Football. College, B1G, NFL, you need depth. You can't just fold up when you lose players. 

In the NFL, yes.  In college football, if a kid thinks he's good enough to start and he isn't starting, he hits the portal.  That's why Rucci left - he didn't want to spend another year sitting behind Nelson and Mahlman.  That's why all the DBs left - they demanded to be guaranteed starting spots, and when they were told they don't guarantee anybody anything they left.

But it's hard to build depth when the prior regime over the past three years brings in a total of 6 OL recruits (one who got homesick and left, one who's so bad he can't even start this year), 2 TEs (one of whom had a substance abuse issue and quit football, the other isn't even in the 3-deep this year), and 3 DL recruits (one of whom couldn't get admitted).

 

15 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

but with NIL money being regulated, at least for the time being, maybe it's time to get back to trying to go back to just recruiting, developing LONG term relationships with these kids and rely a bit less on the portal

That's the thing, they have to start those relationships 2-3 years before they commit.  The guys he was building relationships are freshman now.  And what hurt Fickell is that NIL started a year before he left Cincinnati and Cincinnati didn't have the NIL funds to get the top recruits, so there weren't many good recruits he could bring with them. 

We also know that the chancellor made UW play by the book with respect to NIL.  Nothing paid until they got to campus.  Lots of other schools were cutting checks up front.  Bird in hand...

Do I think Fickell is a great coach?  No.  What I'm saying is that regardless of who they brought in they were headed for disaster.

[BrewerFan]

13 hours ago, nate82 said:

They had to rely on the portal because PC put them in this spot to rely on the portal.  He did very limited recruiting and let one really good defensive player go because he didn't want to even meet them on campus.  He just gave up and said screw it I am not doing this anymore.  

He didn't recruit a single QB after going after Mertz.  It was like ok we got this guy we don't need to worry about 2-3 years down the road.  Heck we don't even need to recruit for a backup QB because reasons only PC knows.  

The team is in a bad spot and having to go to the portal because of PC.  He is the reason why they have had to go to the portal so much.  You can't just give up on recruiting and expect to stay as the HC of a college team.  

Ok... we're going to be 4 years out from Chryst this next year and we have I believe 1 of the top 20 in-state recruits going to Wisconsin. 

There's only so much you can blame on Chryst at this point. 

And yes, I'm aware of the story... but Fickell took over a better team than he has now, so... at what point is it NOT on Chryst? 5 years? A RS Sr's entire tenure?

[nate82]

9 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

And yes, I'm aware of the story... but Fickell took over a better team than he has now, so... at what point is it NOT on Chryst? 5 years? A RS Sr's entire tenure?

Yes after 5 years.  It takes awhile to build the connections and to recruit.  We are still on PC's failure of recruiting.  If he would have given more than 0% the Badgers would have been a bit better off but he didn't if it were possible to give below 0% effort PC would have done that.  You can't get lazy at recruiting and expect the program to be successful.  Next year should be the year where Fickell gets judged on his recruiting.  It will be all of his recruits next year.  

[JosephC]

Chryst derangement syndrome on full display.  Some people are obviously obsessed.  Fickell's first full season at Wisconsin = 7-6 with a 5-4 Big 10 record.  It's been downhill ever since.  Keep complaining about Chyrst's horrible tenure at Wisconsin.  Personally, I think the .713 winning percentage in the regular season, .705 against the Big 10 and .857 in bowl games is looking pretty good right now.  But hey, keep tying the same thing over and over and over and over and eventually you may convince yourself that it is true.

 

[LouisEly]

23 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

but Fickell took over a better team than he has now

And most of the good players on that team never played a regular season game for Fickell - Mertz, Herbig, Benton, Tippman, Guerendo.  Braelon Allen and Tanor Bortolini played one year.  And there was nothing left behind those guys to develop and take over.

That 2022 team had Mertz, Herbig, Benton, Tippman, Guerendo, Braelon Allen, Tanor Bortolini, Jack Nelson, Hunter Wohler.  And they went 7-6.  Nine NFL players should have done better than that.  That's on PC and Leonhard.

[LouisEly]

4 minutes ago, JosephC said:

Chryst derangement syndrome on full display.  Some people are obviously obsessed.  Fickell's first full season at Wisconsin = 7-6 with a 5-4 Big 10 record.  It's been downhill ever since.  Keep complaining about Chyrst's horrible tenure at Wisconsin.  Personally, I think the .713 winning percentage in the regular season, .705 against the Big 10 and .857 in bowl games is looking pretty good right now.  But hey, keep tying the same thing over and over and over and over and eventually you may convince yourself that it is true.

 

Chryst was a good coach.  Until 2020.

2020 allowed him to be lazy, and then he quiet quitted.  It is well known that he wasn't fired for his on-field performance; he was fired because he either half-assed or flat out refused to do what he was asked or needed to do off the field.  He literally took MONTHS to fill the recruiting coordinator position after he left.  He didn't even make it a point to talk to a 4-star linebacker visiting for a game.

See my post above about all the talent he had on that 2022 team that only went 7-6.

[BrewerFan]

9 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

And most of the good players on that team never played a regular season game for Fickell - Mertz, Herbig, Benton, Tippman, Guerendo.  Braelon Allen and Tanor Bortolini played one year.  And there was nothing left behind those guys to develop and take over.

That 2022 team had Mertz, Herbig, Benton, Tippman, Guerendo, Braelon Allen, Tanor Bortolini, Jack Nelson, Hunter Wohler.  And they went 7-6.  Nine NFL players should have done better than that.  That's on PC and Leonhard.

Fine. The 2025 team is not. THAT is on Luke Fickell and the staff they have now. THAT is the point I'm making... and they're not exactly doing much better with the 2026 recruiting class...

[yfinn6]

36 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Yes after 5 years.  It takes awhile to build the connections and to recruit.  We are still on PC's failure of recruiting.  If he would have given more than 0% the Badgers would have been a bit better off but he didn't if it were possible to give below 0% effort PC would have done that.  You can't get lazy at recruiting and expect the program to be successful.  Next year should be the year where Fickell gets judged on his recruiting.  It will be all of his recruits next year.  

Insane take.

Fickell is being paid a ton of money and he's not made the roster any better since he's been here. What's worse, is that he somehow is a worse gameday coach than Chryst. It's just a matter of time before he's rightfully cast off. 

[yourout]

2 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Ok... we're going to be 4 years out from Chryst this next year and we have I believe 1 of the top 20 in-state recruits going to Wisconsin. 

There's only so much you can blame on Chryst at this point. 

And yes, I'm aware of the story... but Fickell took over a better team than he has now, so... at what point is it NOT on Chryst? 5 years? A RS Sr's entire tenure?

Red shirt freshman Kid from Mount Horeb is the backup center at Indiana and got some run at the end of last night's game.

 

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, yfinn6 said:

Insane take.

Fickell is being paid a ton of money and he's not made the roster any better since he's been here. What's worse, is that he somehow is a worse gameday coach than Chryst. It's just a matter of time before he's rightfully cast off. 

It is. It definitely doesn't take 5 years to recruit a kid. It takes an emphasis on TRYING to recruit that kid. The idea that you have to start talking to these guys when they're Freshmen in HS is... WILDLY inaccurate. 

You just have to talk to them. Wisconsin Football had a whole lot of momentum with the Fickell hiring, there was a lot of excitement. 

[yourout]

1 hour ago, yfinn6 said:

Insane take.

Fickell is being paid a ton of money and he's not made the roster any better since he's been here. What's worse, is that he somehow is a worse gameday coach than Chryst. It's just a matter of time before he's rightfully cast off. 

When he was hired my son had some online chats with some Cincinnati fans most of which were really not that sad to see him go. They said he is a lousy game day coach and the only reason those teams were any good is the two coordinators both of which did not come with him.

[nate82]

24 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

It is. It definitely doesn't take 5 years to recruit a kid. It takes an emphasis on TRYING to recruit that kid. The idea that you have to start talking to these guys when they're Freshmen in HS is... WILDLY inaccurate. 

You just have to talk to them. Wisconsin Football had a whole lot of momentum with the Fickell hiring, there was a lot of excitement. 

Not sure how you guys misinterpret things so much on this forum.  Where did I say it takes 5 years to recruit?  Please reread what I said.  I said it takes awhile to build the connections and recruit that doesn't mean one kid.  It means getting into the high schools and other programs.  It takes time to get into there and no you can't just use the connections that were used well not used by PC.  Plus after this season the majority of the recruits will be Fickell's recruits and not PC's recruits.  The majority of your team that will see if you can get success are going to be your Sophomore and Junior type of players with a few seniors sprinkled in.  True Freshman are hardly ever starting and if they are it is because they are really good.  Even the good ones don't start their first year.  

Next season will be the determining factor if Fickell recruited correctly.  It is when every player will be his and not some castoff from PC. 

2 hours ago, JosephC said:

Personally, I think the .713 winning percentage in the regular season, .705 against the Big 10 and .857 in bowl games is looking pretty good right now. 

PC was going to be going down the same road as Fickell is in right now.  Please tell me what recruits that PC had that was going to improve that 7-6 team.  You won't find any as PC completely gave up on the recruiting end.  We would be far worse off right now if PC continued to be the coach.  That .713 winning percentage in the regular season would be falling so fast he probably would have quit after the 2023 season.  If his record is this great why isn't he a HC at a major conference team right now?  The answer is clear he is a cancer to a program and that is why no one will touch him because he won't recruit.  Why get a HC who won't even do the basics for recruiting?  He may have a good regular season winning percentage against cupcake teams but he is an absolutely awful HC when it comes to ranked opponents and doing the easiest and smallest things for recruiting.  

[Samurai Bucky]

Mike McCarthy?

https://www.si.com/college/wisconsin/football/chris-mcintosh-and-mike-mccarthy-sighting-ignites-wisconsin-badgers-fans-speculation

[Samurai Bucky]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

PC was going to be going down the same road as Fickell is in right now.  Please tell me what recruits that PC had that was going to improve that 7-6 team.  You won't find any as PC completely gave up on the recruiting end.  We would be far worse off right now if PC continued to be the coach.  That .713 winning percentage in the regular season would be falling so fast he probably would have quit after the 2023 season.  If his record is this great why isn't he a HC at a major conference team right now?  The answer is clear he is a cancer to a program and that is why no one will touch him because he won't recruit.  Why get a HC who won't even do the basics for recruiting?  He may have a good regular season winning percentage against cupcake teams but he is an absolutely awful HC when it comes to ranked opponents and doing the easiest and smallest things for recruiting.  

I'm don't know, but when you don't show up when a recruit is coming in, that is bad.  I don't care if the recruiting group was in a mess or not.

https://www.outkick.com/sports/embarrassing-report-paints-unflattering-picture-of-paul-chrysts-recruiting-at-wisconsin

Quote

 

For eight months, Wisconsin more or less didn't have a recruiting staff after director of player personnel Saeed Khalif left for Michigan State, according to The Athletic. Chryst put together "what amounted to a makeshift staff" for recruiting, and it led to at least one disastrous situation.

When Michigan player Jimmy Rolder visited Madison as a recruit, the situation was so disorganized nobody even apparently knew he was there.

"No one talked to him. No one knew who he was or anything about him," an unnamed source told The Athletic. Rolder eventually landed at Michigan, where he's having a very nice freshman season.

 

This was one of the main reasons why I knew Chryst had checked out.  

As far as Fickell -- I simply don't think he is a good leader.  I'm not sure how he got things to pan out in Cincinnati, but I don't see players on the team willing to go to bat for much of anything.  When the Badgers scored at the end of the game against Maryland, I would have liked him to at least clap his hands and use that as a motivation for the bye week.  Heck, at the end of the Alabama game, why not work hard at the end and try to score.  Instead, it was lolly-gag fest.  That is on the coach.

During Fickell's first year, we sat in the 15th row behind the Badger bench against Buffalo.  The offensive line was terrible -- poor fundamentals and stupid penalties.  Finally after they pooped the bed to start the second half, one of the coaches got in the face of the offensive line.  Then, they played well.

I'm not sold that another year or two is going to solve anything because Fickell needs to be a head coach.  He needs to lead the men who are on the team and also the coaches that are working with them.  Perhaps there is some mentoring.  I think I know why Ohio State didn't choose him as their coach.

 

[BrewerFan]

8 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

My short answer would be with this staff, no.

Past teams here had some exceptional talent, but always relied largely on those 2-3 star guys developing & performing above their recruiting stars. I see little to no evidence of that now. And with the annual turnover of rosters in CFB now, can it even happen?

How did the previous staff do it? They sold the program, the vision and made it a place walk-on's or guys who weren't highly rated recruits wanted to go. 

You can do it with Football players. You have a lot of talented guys who end up without a home in the portal. 

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

Not sure how you guys misinterpret things so much on this forum.  Where did I say it takes 5 years to recruit?  Please reread what I said. 

I'm talking about how they have ONE kid in the top 20 next year and you're telling me how long it takes to recruit. 

It really just doesn't take a long time. You don't need a deep relationship to go around and talk to the top recruits in the state... you just need... as I said, guys who can sell the program and who make the effort. 

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

I said it takes awhile to build the connections and recruit that doesn't mean one kid.

Well... it does for the top 20 recruits in the next class of '26.

This is the ONE D1 School in this State. This is a B1G program. A lot of the "recruiting" is just showing up. Not with a top 100-200 recruit. We don't get a whole lot of those, but it doesn't take years to be able to recruit. 

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

Next season will be the determining factor if Fickell recruited correctly.  It is when every player will be his and not some castoff from PC. 

It's 2025... in the B1G. You don't need to wait an entire cycle and we've gotten progressively worse as this roster has gone from "some castoff from PC," vs his guys. 

Plus... do we not remember how he was coming to Cincy with SO many of his guys? He was bringing a whole class of recruits with him! It shouldn't take more than... 2 years in the current landscape to get your guys in there, backfill with the portal.

He did it at Cincy. We've seen plenty of guys doing it at other schools Indiana... took them a year and they were starting from a worse position than the Badgers were.

He also should have come to Wisconsin with relationships in place. That was a MAJOR selling point, remember? We had a pipeline into Ohio now with Fickell?

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

How did the previous staff do it? They sold the program, the vision and made it a place walk-on's or guys who weren't highly rated recruits wanted to go. 

You can do it with Football players. You have a lot of talented guys who end up without a home in the portal. 

They did it with assistants that could develop average to moderate talent. I don't know if that's a strength of this staff (so far I don't see it). When Barry first arrived you could sell a totally new regime, then after a few years the team started winning & that made it much easier to sell, especially when you look at the success of the walkons---heck, they had walkons that wound up playing in the NFL. That sells itself. Now, you can leave w/o having to sit out so instead of those 2/3 years of development paying off, they don't want to wait & transfer to Western Illinois or wherever.

Portal guys, sure, today you need that to survive. But to me it isn't quite the same thing, especially when you're bringing in kids who had a few years somewhere else. There might be bad habits that are ingrained, there's more of a 'they are what they are' sense to those guys. Most of them probably left because they weren't playing at their previous stop, and the 20 guys you lose through the portal are more-or-less replaced by 20 guys with a similar talent level. Except the chemistry is much more hit-and-miss because you're relying on vets from all over the map.

Everyone is in the same boat re the new landscape, but when you were a program based largely on that development aspect the change is much greater.

[BrewerFan]

16 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

They did it with assistants that could develop average to moderate talent. I don't know if that's a strength of this staff (so far I don't see it). When Barry first arrived you could sell a totally new regime, then after a few years the team started winning & that made it much easier to sell, especially when you look at the success of the walkons---heck, they had walkons that wound up playing in the NFL. That sells itself. Now, you can leave w/o having to sit out so instead of those 2/3 years of development paying off, they don't want to wait & transfer to Western Illinois or wherever.

Portal guys, sure, today you need that to survive. But to me it isn't quite the same thing, especially when you're bringing in kids who had a few years somewhere else. There might be bad habits that are ingrained, there's more of a 'they are what they are' sense to those guys. Most of them probably left because they weren't playing at their previous stop, and the 20 guys you lose through the portal are more-or-less replaced by 20 guys with a similar talent level. Except the chemistry is much more hit-and-miss because you're relying on vets from all over the map.

Everyone is in the same boat re the new landscape, but when you were a program based largely on that development aspect the change is much greater.

Yeah, but those kids aren't the ones transferring. A LOT of kids get stuck in the portal without any scholarship if nobody has seen them play.

Guys like...Jim Leonhad himself or whoever... they weren't transferring out to start at a smaller school or they'd have gone to a smaller school to begin with. The 2-3 star recruits, same thing. 

The guys who are transferring are the highly touted recruits or the kids who've played and proven they can play. 

 

But I think you're hitting on the point I'm worrying about. I don't know that this staff is capable of doing so. 

[nate82]

8 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

They did it with assistants that could develop average to moderate talent.

Those assistants left a long time ago.  Bielema left because UW was unwilling to pay the assistants more.  A lot of the guys that were developing players who were 2-3 star recruits and walks on left as the money from other programs was more than what UW was willing to pay and they didn't leave for the Ohio States, Alabama's or the Texas's of college football.  They left for smaller schools than UW.  

 

8 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

The guys who are transferring are the highly touted recruits or the kids who've played and proven they can play. 

This is an insane take and an absolutely clueless one.  

[JosephC]

Bielema went to Arkansas because they paid him 3.2 million a year and Wisconsin was paying him 2.5 million per year.  Bielema may have used the assistant coach pay as an excuse, but his leaving was 100% the same reason why all those assistants left.  Somebody else offered him more money and he took it.

[Jim French Stepstool]

13 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Yeah, but those kids aren't the ones transferring. A LOT of kids get stuck in the portal without any scholarship if nobody has seen them play.

Guys like...Jim Leonhad himself or whoever... they weren't transferring out to start at a smaller school or they'd have gone to a smaller school to begin with. The 2-3 star recruits, same thing. 

The guys who are transferring are the highly touted recruits or the kids who've played and proven they can play. 

 

But I think you're hitting on the point I'm worrying about. I don't know that this staff is capable of doing so. 

Yep, we agree on the underlined.

I think many kids would've started out at a smaller school, yeah. But going from big to small if you don't crack the 2 (or 1) deep, I'm sure that happens too. Leonhard isn't a great example because he got on the field right away, at the place he wanted to be at. The common thread is, either way you can leave at the drop of a hat w/o having to sit. It's attractive in the moment, but a LOT of them wind up w/o a home & I suspect many of those wind up not going back to school at all.

We aren't on the same page about the quality of the transfers, outside of some who are at a top-flite program & are stuck behind other high-level guys. When a school goes through the portal process & re-sets the roster I feel the talent level is pretty close to what it was before, except maybe different position groups are strengthened--or weakened. The exception of course is if you spend seven figures for a QB, provided he works out. The sober reality is, the portal might be what they HAVE to lean on right now. I'm not sure how many highly ranked HS kids they can attract given the growing toxic atmosphere re Fickell.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, nate82 said:

Those assistants left a long time ago.  

 

 

Yes they did. And the ones who are here now appear to be much worse at it.

As much heat as Fickell has taken, that might be his biggest failure. From all appearances he seems to be a CEO-type coach. You can thrive w/that style, but you need to have a strong staff & he doesn't. Successful programs lose assistants; it goes with the territory when you win. You need the rolodex, the contacts, the connections to fill spots--even to the point of anticipating a staff loss. Both originally & subsequently, his staff decisions have been pretty atrocious.

 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, nate82 said:

Those assistants left a long time ago.  Bielema left because UW was unwilling to pay the assistants more.  A lot of the guys that were developing players who were 2-3 star recruits and walks on left as the money from other programs was more than what UW was willing to pay and they didn't leave for the Ohio States, Alabama's or the Texas's of college football.  They left for smaller schools than UW.  

Well... they were still able to do it when Chryst was there. 

 

5 hours ago, nate82 said:

This is an insane take and an absolutely clueless one.  

LOL.... sure Nate. 

[nate82]

1 hour ago, BrewerFan said:

Well... they were still able to do it when Chryst was there. 

No they definitely didn’t maybe one or two players here or there but it wasn’t all that many.