Wisconsin Football 2025

[nate82]

The Athletic has Monken as the best fit for the HC at Wisconsin.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6758442/2025/10/29/james-franklin-lane-kiffin-coaching-fits/?source=user_shared_article What are James Franklin, Lane Kiffin and others’ perfect coaching fits?

[JosephC]

Three "O'fer in the Big 10" teams played yesterday, and all were losers.  At least the Badgers have plenty of company in the toilet.  Michigan State went to Minnesota and lost in OT, which gives me a tiny bit of hope the Badgers just might be able to pull off an upset against the Gophers.

Penn State and Michigan State play each other a couple weeks from now.  Purdue's remaining schedule is Ohio State (home), Washington (away), Indiana (home)...so they are a super near-lock to go winless in the Big 10 this year.

Also, in an amusing note, I see a sportsbook has put up odds for the next Penn State head coach.  The best odds currently are:

Brian Hartline = +125

Joe Brady = +200

Eli Drinkwitz = +300

Jeff Brohm = +500

Urban Meyer = +600

[Brewin]

Reported that Fickell will return in 2026 with a "greater commitment and institutional support" per Pete Thamel (ESPN)..IMO he wouldn't survive a 2-10 season but it looks like that's not the case

[owbc]

18 minutes ago, Brewin said:

Reported that Fickell will return in 2026 with a "greater commitment and institutional support" per Pete Thamel (ESPN)..IMO he wouldn't survive a 2-10 season but it looks like that's not the case

That solidifies my decision about the rest of the athletic department. Time to fire above him. 

[yourout]

28 minutes ago, owbc said:

That solidifies my decision about the rest of the athletic department. Time to fire above him. 

Yep....Mac needs to go for more reasons than just Fickell.

[adambr2]

2 hours ago, Brewin said:

Reported that Fickell will return in 2026 with a "greater commitment and institutional support" per Pete Thamel (ESPN)..IMO he wouldn't survive a 2-10 season but it looks like that's not the case

“ChatGPT, how can I not fire Fickell but make it sound like we’re still moving in a positive direction?”

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, owbc said:

That solidifies my decision about the rest of the athletic department. Time to fire above him. 

It's possible that this is coming from above the athletic department.

With all of the uncertainty about government funding right now, it's possible that Mnookin put a freeze on the buyout and said that the buyout funds might be needed for other things.

I wouldn't say "probable", but certainly "possible".

[JosephC]

This isn't even news in Madison.  When McIntosh sent that support letter out to ticket buyers and donors awhile back, the first couple days the reaction was "he can't be serious," and that quickly morphed into Fickell will absolutely be the Badgers head football coach in 2026.  People needed a couple days to process if McIntosh is just that much of an idiot egomaniac, and after thinking about it decided the answer was yes.

Anybody still left on the fence, and there weren't very many left, lost all hope when Ted Kellner (one of the big, big, big donors) threw his support behind both McIntosh and Fickell.

Everyone in Madison has already bailed on football, it's all about basketball now.  I never thought I would see the day where all the football fans were completely uninterested the first week in November, but it has happened.  McIntosh and Fickell have completely destroyed the program in 3 years.

The only talk I heard this week regarding football is that the athletic department rolled out the Ireland trip packages earlier this week.  For those that don't know, the Badger play Pitt in 2027 and the game will be in Dublin.  I didn't know about it, but a guy who I work with who attends ALL these special football games told me about it and said there was no way he was going unless Fickell can manage at least 7 wins next year.  Another guy who always goes to these games told me his wife wants to go and they are thinking about a 9 day Belfast/Galway/Kerry package (didn't want to do London because they've already vacationed there) but the game itself was not a motivating factor whatsoever.  He made it clear that they were interested in Ireland and had the attitude that, well, there just so happens to be a game happening on one of those days.

The thing that scares me the most is that with the lighter schedule next year, it wouldn't be a shock if the team was just a tad better and will scratch out a 5-7 record...which of course McIntosh will say progress is being made and they will keep Fickell for 2027...and they will slip back to 3-9 or 4-8 territory.

It's going to be a long, long, long road back to respectability with these two clowns running the show.

 

[owbc]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

This isn't even news in Madison.  When McIntosh sent that support letter out to ticket buyers and donors awhile back, the first couple days the reaction was "he can't be serious," and that quickly morphed into Fickell will absolutely be the Badgers head football coach in 2026.  People needed a couple days to process if McIntosh is just that much of an idiot egomaniac, and after thinking about it decided the answer was yes.

Anybody still left on the fence, and there weren't very many left, lost all hope when Ted Kellner (one of the big, big, big donors) threw his support behind both McIntosh and Fickell.

Everyone in Madison has already bailed on football, it's all about basketball now.  I never thought I would see the day where all the football fans were completely uninterested the first week in November, but it has happened.  McIntosh and Fickell have completely destroyed the program in 3 years.

The only talk I heard this week regarding football is that the athletic department rolled out the Ireland trip packages earlier this week.  For those that don't know, the Badger play Pitt in 2027 and the game will be in Dublin.  I didn't know about it, but a guy who I work with who attends ALL these special football games told me about it and said there was no way he was going unless Fickell can manage at least 7 wins next year.  Another guy who always goes to these games told me his wife wants to go and they are thinking about a 9 day Belfast/Galway/Kerry package (didn't want to do London because they've already vacationed there) but the game itself was not a motivating factor whatsoever.  He made it clear that they were interested in Ireland and had the attitude that, well, there just so happens to be a game happening on one of those days.

The thing that scares me the most is that with the lighter schedule next year, it wouldn't be a shock if the team was just a tad better and will scratch out a 5-7 record...which of course McIntosh will say progress is being made and they will keep Fickell for 2027...and they will slip back to 3-9 or 4-8 territory.

It's going to be a long, long, long road back to respectability with these two clowns running the show.

 

This is horrifying and probably accurate. 
 

Is Tony Evers a football fan? 😂 

[HarryDoyle]

Perhaps they should do what Indiana did that they are now a football powerhouse, something I thought would never happen. I don't know what they did, but whatever it is, Wisconsin should do it. McIntosh has turned that program into a laughingstock.

[tmwiese55]

fairly spot on post by Joseph.    I'm also one who does these big game trips. Since the team sucks now we've been doing SEC games instead lately.  Ireland has been in the plans but at this point I'm not sure there is a need to force it at that time.

Anyway, I was just thinking yesterday about the Notre Dame game at Lambeau next year.  Normally, that would be an event, stay there a few days, etc but now its like do I even want to bother. Its opening game on Labor Day Sunday so won't have any games before to see if some progress has been made to just have basic competency  Instead, you're going into it expecting an all out blowout

[owbc]

55 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

fairly spot on post by Joseph.    I'm also one who does these big game trips. Since the team sucks now we've been doing SEC games instead lately.  Ireland has been in the plans but at this point I'm not sure there is a need to force it at that time.

Anyway, I was just thinking yesterday about the Notre Dame game at Lambeau next year.  Normally, that would be an event, stay there a few days, etc but now its like do I even want to bother. Its opening game on Labor Day Sunday so won't have any games before to see if some progress has been made to just have basic competency  Instead, you're going into it expecting an all out blowout

Don't go. Don't renew season tickets. Send a message. 

[JosephC]

I highly recommend having a barf bag ready if you are going to listen to this.

[tmwiese55]

45 minutes ago, owbc said:

Don't go. Don't renew season tickets. Send a message. 

Gameday festivities/pageantry is still a good time and I have multiple ND family connections, so I'd guess I still go to the ND game but it won't be a whole weekend.  And I'll buy a cheap secondary market ticket and not go through them, almost a lock to be able to get a better price than face value since so many people are checked out 

 Yea this was my first year without having seasons in about 15 years, good call that was.   Instead of the 1000ish per ticket I've maybe spent $100 total going to four games so far and I don't think I'll go to another since weather looks trash this weekend. Was very blunt on the cancellations process on the reasons.

TBF, I did do the Bama trip but that was more out of the SEC thing than anything and it just happened our team was down there this year.  But the money in future years will be spent on traveling to good college football environments rather than on UW.  Those games blow away UW gameday environments even when were good by a lot anyway

[LouisEly]

18 hours ago, JosephC said:

McIntosh and Fickell have completely destroyed the program in 3 years.

It was already headed there.  Chryst was fired for a reason.  They just weren't able to turn it around.

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

Perhaps they should do what Indiana did 

Get Mark Cuban to write checks to UW athletics? 

Don't get me wrong, they made a HR hire w/Cignetti. But make no mistake, in the current climate of college sports one of the more effective paths to success is to have an alum/rabid fan who is heavily into college sports & happens to be a billionaire.

Heard part of the radio interview w/Mac today. Trying to listen between the lines it sounded to me like they COULD buy out Fickell (not that they wanted to) but would rather use the funds to buy players & it's an either/or.

[LouisEly]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Don't get me wrong, they made a HR hire w/Cignetti.

And Cignetti made a home run hire with Mike Shanahan.

You don't need to look any further than Fickell to see the impact of good coordinators.  Good coordinators at Cincinnati and he's undefeated (in that conference, FWIW, but Cincinnati is ranked this year).  Bad coordinators at UW = disaster.

Same w/Chryst - look at what happened when he promoted Joe Rudolph to OC.

In this day and age, the HC has as little to do directly with the on-field success as they ever have.  The HC is responsible for recruiting (externally and internally), but even so, NIL often has the last say with that.

[nate82]

59 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

It was already headed there.  Chryst was fired for a reason.  They just weren't able to turn it around.

I think some are overlooking how bad the team was heading under Chryst.  The Badgers basically had no QB and no RB recruits coming in and that wall everyone was talking about in WI was already crumbling down under Chryst.

Mertz was transferring no matter who was going to be the HC.  2023 would have had a starting QB of Howe or Burkett.  That would have been a disaster.  Not to mention the OL was absolutely horrendous with no signs of any improvement.

Defensively the team started to slip.  The lack of recruiting and the lack of effort there by the HC really killed an elite defense.  Leonard also needs to take some blame here on the recruiting side.  There was only a few people at WI who were really trying and interested in recruiting PC and JL were not.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

And Cignetti made a home run hire with Mike Shanahan.

You don't need to look any further than Fickell to see the impact of good coordinators.  Good coordinators at Cincinnati and he's undefeated (in that conference, FWIW, but Cincinnati is ranked this year).  Bad coordinators at UW = disaster.

Same w/Chryst - look at what happened when he promoted Joe Rudolph to OC.

In this day and age, the HC has as little to do directly with the on-field success as they ever have.  The HC is responsible for recruiting (externally and internally), but even so, NIL often has the last say with that.

Personally I think the jury is still out on Jeff Grimes. I'd need to see what he's capable of with a better & healthier O-line and not having to go to his 3rd QB. Of course he's most likely only here as long as Luke.

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, nate82 said:

I think some are overlooking how bad the team was heading under Chryst.  The Badgers basically had no QB and no RB recruits coming in and that wall everyone was talking about in WI was already crumbling down under Chryst.

Exactly.  Here's Chryst's last three recruiting classes at arguably the most important positions:

QB: Deacon Hill, Myles Burkett, Cole LaCrue
RB: Jackson Acker, Loyal Crawford, Antwan Roberts, Nate White (Braelon Allen was recruited as a safety/LB and moved to RB after he got here)
OL: Nolan Rucci, Riley Mahlman, JP Benzschawel, Joe Brunner, Barrett Nelson, James Durand
DL:  Mike Jarvis, Curt Neal, Isaac Hamm
OLB/Edge: Ayo Adebogun, Darryl Peterson, TJ Bollers, Tristan Monday, Jordan Mayer

Tell me that team would be any better.

[homer]

We're gonna be blaming Chryst's recruits for 10 years. At what point is this Fickell's team? Next year? The year after that?

[da swedish german]

going to the game today. used to live on Lathrop and haven't been to a game in 15 years. 

going to get wasted and cheer as hard as I can

i'll single-handedly storm the field if we win 

[nate82]

2 hours ago, homer said:

We're gonna be blaming Chryst's recruits for 10 years. At what point is this Fickell's team? Next year? The year after that?

If you are talking about his recruiting then next year is the starting year to tell what his recruits are doing.  His first full recruiting cycle was in 2024.  The first class would be the 2023 class but that still had some PC recruits in it.  The 2024 team was all his recruits.  

The best recruit they got in the 2024 class is injured in Kevin Heywood and Xavier Lucas left for more money from Miami.  For the 2025 recruiting class hopefully the Badgers have their starting QB in Carter Smith.  It is probably a year too early for Logan Powell and Hardy Watts to be starting next year on the OL.  If Heywood gets healthy and if Powell and Watts are ready to start next year then that OL will show a huge improvement over the current OL.  

Defensively the Badgers are still short on the DB side of things IMHO.  On the DL it should be a great year for the Badgers in 2026 with Clayton and Williams possibly starting and Ernest Willor should also be starting on the DL.  Then you also have Posa at LB.  On the offensive side the Badgers may get a freshman who can start at WR in Jayden Petit. 

The Badgers will get a big loss in losing Latimer at RB as it looks like he will be going to Ohio State.  Ohio State has 0 RB's in the 2026 class and it is possible Latimer could start for them as a freshman.  I am not sure the Badgers will be able to offer him the same plus the NIL money he will likely get from Ohio State will be better than at WI.    

[Frisbee Slider]

I do not follow college football. At the same time, Washington being favored to win by only 10.5 points seems ridiculously low.

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, homer said:

We're gonna be blaming Chryst's recruits for 10 years. At what point is this Fickell's team? Next year? The year after that?

As Nate said, he's only had two full recruiting classes.  The best players from the 2023 class were ones he brought in/back or closed (Alliegro, Kekahuna, Ashcraft).  His first full recruiting class is at best true sophomores.

In football, a coach needs four full recruiting classes.  As physical as football is, it's really hard to win with underclassmen in football.  Basketball is a different story.