Wisconsin Football 2025

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I wouldn't mind Alvarez being involved one bit.

Except that Alvarez is the reason that Mac is there in the first place.

 

[yourout]

Points wise this defense will go down in badger history as the worst ever and they'll probably lap the field in the process.

 

[homer]

Fickell is good at losing by less.

[yourout]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Fickell is good at losing by less.

Day doesn't seem to want to call off the dogs does he. 

 

[LouisEly]

Bring back Phil Longo

[yfinn6]

I don't know how Fickell is the head coach of this team in 2026. 

Keep Alvarez as far away from the decision on who the next AD should be, too, because Mac is junk. 

Some real dark days ahead for UW athletics and it wasn't that surprising to people who had interactions with Mac before and while he was associate AD. The Fickell hire is looking like a massive disaster that we can't ignore anymore (hard to ignore it before this season for most, not for some). 

[JosephC]

As much as Mnookin would just like to ignore the athletic department and let it run itself, there is no way she will be able to ignore a 2-10 football season.  I'm all for McIntosh being thrown out on his rear, IMO I'd rather see him out the door even before Fickell.

[Jim French Stepstool]

8 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Except that Alvarez is the reason that Mac is there in the first place.

 

That's true. But it's also true that Mac hired Fickell. I'd welcome BA's input.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, JosephC said:

As much as Mnookin would just like to ignore the athletic department and let it run itself, there is no way she will be able to ignore a 2-10 football season.  I'm all for McIntosh being thrown out on his rear, IMO I'd rather see him out the door even before Fickell.

I'd prefer that but the timing just doesn't seem to match up for things to develop in that order,

[Samurai Bucky]

I see too much “give up” with this team.  This started at the end of the Alabama game.  Ok… Simmons drove the team down the field against Maryland, but Fickell stayed stoic.  That should have been a time where he got excited to celebrate a small victory — even if it was small.  
 

That attitude and fight comes from the Head Coach.   I haven’t seen it this year.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

Not to pile on......OK nevermind, that's exactly what I'm doing..........but the team suffered back-to-back shutouts vs Iowa & O$U. The last time UW was shutout in consecutive games was in 1968, when they actually put up a donut three times in a row. Those three games had a nice, symmetrical combined score of 100-0. Right now they're working on 71-zip, with one to go in Eugene vs an Oregon team averaging about 44PPG.

Fun times.

[owbc]

I only check this thread now to see if they fired him yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

[JosephC]

22 minutes ago, owbc said:

I only check this thread now to see if they fired him yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

You must have missed the news.  McIntosh had a meeting with the players only late last week and told them that he has no plans to fire Fickell during the season or after the season.  You can bet just about anything that Fickell will coach every game, although now I do think he will get fired following the last game if they finish 2-10.

[CheezWizHed]

Just remember that Barry Alvarez also hired Gary Anderson, so he isn't really perfect either.   Hopefully Mac just learns from that hire to dig deeper.

I don't think it really matters about how many recruits we lose... when you have a hole in a bucket, you can't keep pouring water in because they keep pouring out. Got to plug the hole first. 

If it looks like Fickel has lost the team, then pouring in new recruits isn't going to help.  

[JosephC]

Oregon is a 34 point favorite.

[JosephC]

I'm just loving Chris McIntosh's letter to the fans.  Especially the "As a department, we must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed.  That means more Athletics-funded investments into infrastructure, staffing and, most importantly, student-athlete recruiting and retention.  In this new era of collegiate athletics, the clear reality is that high expectations must be matched with an equal level of support.  The results of this elevated support may not be immediate..."  

Spoken like a typical, worthless government bureaucrat.  It can't be my fault or my way of thinking, it can't be my hand-picked employee's fault or his way of thinking....the solution to solve the problem is to just throw more money at the problem.  A complete buffoon with an ego bigger than the entire state of Wisconsin.

[LouisEly]

14 hours ago, JosephC said:

You must have missed the news.  McIntosh had a meeting with the players only late last week and told them that he has no plans to fire Fickell during the season or after the season.  You can bet just about anything that Fickell will coach every game, although now I do think he will get fired following the last game if they finish 2-10.

All his statement is designed to do is to calm the players down and try to stem the tide of them looking elsewhere.  It really means nothing else.

Unless I'm missing something, all firing Fickell right now instead of at the end of the season does is give players the opportunity to enter the portal right now and have more time to find another school.

[Samurai Bucky]

3 hours ago, JosephC said:

I'm just loving Chris McIntosh's letter to the fans.  Especially the "As a department, we must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed.  That means more Athletics-funded investments into infrastructure, staffing and, most importantly, student-athlete recruiting and retention.  In this new era of collegiate athletics, the clear reality is that high expectations must be matched with an equal level of support.  The results of this elevated support may not be immediate..."  

Spoken like a typical, worthless government bureaucrat.  It can't be my fault or my way of thinking, it can't be my hand-picked employee's fault or his way of thinking....the solution to solve the problem is to just throw more money at the problem.  A complete buffoon with an ego bigger than the entire state of Wisconsin.

When I was in the Band, the Badger football team only one 7 games in the four years I was there.  That included the first year of the Emperor.  I was so focused on the Band (with a little help from some 12 oz. cups of our favorite beverage) and the hockey team, that it really didn't hit me too much.

Since then, Wisconsin had (notice the past tense) become prominent.  Let's analyze McIntosh's points:

That means more Athletics-funded investments into...

• infrastructure -- ok, you broke ground, got rid of the shell, moved the hall of fame plaques, the bricks people purchased with donations, and the indoor track facility... check!
• staffing -- having 42 administrative staff and over 400 positions in the entire department -- check
• most importantly, student-athlete recruiting and retention -- not working for your biggest revenue generator (football).

My guess is he is saying, "See?  Barry was 1-10 in his first year.  We had to tear the program down before we built it back up."  Empty stands aren't going to attract anyone unless Fickell is out in two years and then they bring in someone else.

Not much else to say... I'm just ranting.  ... Sad Trombone...

[Jim French Stepstool]

19 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

 

My guess is he is saying, "See?  Barry was 1-10 in his first year.  We had to tear the program down before we built it back up."  

 

He might indeed be leaning on the perceived (by him, anyway) comparison between the beginning of the Alvarez era & what's going on now. But the sad reality is that 35 years ago the department was taken over by a man who held a high-level executive position in private business, was organized & knew how to delegate & appropriate funds. Mac had a career in private business between his retirement from the NFL & his hiring by the UW, and it was mostly unsuccessful.

@JosephCmade a reference to public bureaucracy. It's something that I guess can be referred to as a necessary evil. But when a person enters that bureaucracy after going to bat in the business world & striking out it seldom (never?) seems to end well.

[hawing]

This tweet has screenshots of the McIntosh message to fans.  

On first read*, I thought the message was "It's your problem too, season ticket holders. Pony up!"  I know football is the load-bearing component of the athletic department, but I don't think the message is going to change anyone's mind. 

*For those of you wondering why hawing is weighing in on football, we got the email because we have season tickets for UW volleyball.  

 

[yfinn6]

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Mac just created another PR blunder for the UW. 

He's hoping this letter would've invigorated donors to send cash, but instead it's become the laughing stock of the conference and met with anger amongst UW fans. Not sure if he's just hoping to buy some time but it's obvious Fickell just needs to be fired and seems he and Mnookin both understand this. 

[JosephC]

Hard to believe that McIntosh thinks that the donors are going to give a lot more money if Fickell is still the head coach.

[CheezWizHed]

23 hours ago, JosephC said:

I'm just loving Chris McIntosh's letter to the fans.  Especially the "As a department, we must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed.  That means more Athletics-funded investments into infrastructure, staffing and, most importantly, student-athlete recruiting and retention.  In this new era of collegiate athletics, the clear reality is that high expectations must be matched with an equal level of support.  The results of this elevated support may not be immediate..."  

Spoken like a typical, worthless government bureaucrat.  It can't be my fault or my way of thinking, it can't be my hand-picked employee's fault or his way of thinking....the solution to solve the problem is to just throw more money at the problem.  A complete buffoon with an ego bigger than the entire state of Wisconsin.

I'm not trying to defend Chris, but I know that in my position as a people manager you need to try to spin bad news to sound as positive as possible.  Perhaps they can't fire Fickle for financial reasons, so showing public support is one way to make good of a bad situation.  Or perhaps he is doing some (attempted) PR work to calm down recruits.  Or maybe it is all spin and they are interviewing in the background. 

Hard to know what is going on behind the scenes for these situations. 

17 hours ago, hawing said:

This tweet has screenshots of the McIntosh message to fans.  

On first read*, I thought the message was "It's your problem too, season ticket holders. Pony up!"  I know football is the load-bearing component of the athletic department, but I don't think the message is going to change anyone's mind. 

*For those of you wondering why hawing is weighing in on football, we got the email because we have season tickets for UW volleyball.  

 

Come on!  As a US Citizen that likes sports, you MUST LOVE (American) FOOTBALL!!!! 😂

[yfinn6]

59 minutes ago, JosephC said:

Hard to believe that McIntosh thinks that the donors are going to give a lot more money if Fickell is still the head coach.

Maybe donors are going to give Fickell, and Mac, one more season and then pony up to dump the two of them. How can this department and university expect anyone to renew tickets for 2026 with this staff. They've shown zero ability to coach up their players. 

[tmwiese55]

My group has been trying to not be negative and that logistically it make sense to try and give one more year. Get to an easier schedule and see if a step in the right direction can be made next year. Constant firings and all that can lead to spiral quickly, and then add in the money needed.   

But its gotten so bad and the team is so bad that I just don't think there's any other choice at this point.  It just seems complete lost cause or lost locker room level of ineptitude where you just don't have a choice.  I think I've posted a time or two on here in the last year that the people I know around the program have been saying its absolutely brutal behind the scenes, which is showing on the field now and it sounds like things are even worse.  It just seems like they don't have a choice but to fire at this point.  And with the money that will cost I don't see the next coach being a proven expensive guy and the NIL pot won't be too full since so much has to go to buyout and interest is low, lots of dark years ahead.  That said, it wouldn't surprise me if they negotiate that 28 mil number down with him. He seems to have given up (in spite of still wearing the stupid vest) and probably prefers to just be gone.

I guess lesson learned to the people that spent the good years of the programs calling for axing Gard/Chryst etc or for the people who pushed a guy like Franklin out of PSU. Careful what you wish for, its nearly impossible to turn yourself into OSU/Bama or Duke/Kentucky, but it is very easy to turn yourself into Northwestern/Kansas at football or say Nebraska/Oregon st at basketball