Wisconsin Football 2025

[Joseph Zarr]

 

[Joseph Zarr]

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[Joseph Zarr]

On 1/17/2026 at 10:43 AM, Joseph Zarr said:

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It is so:

 

[yourout]

I'd love to get excited about all the guys that brought in but I've seen this movie before. When you can't coach you can't coach.

[RedStickBrew]

15 minutes ago, yourout said:

I'd love to get excited about all the guys that brought in but I've seen this movie before. When you can't coach you can't coach.

I think this is mostly true. I do have some hope for the new O-line and DB coaches. I watch a good bit of SEC ball down here and am familiar with Steeples especially when he was at LSU.  

Some of the guys they brought in the secondary are legit players with P4 experience. Burks and Robinson especially have played a lot of ball. Fletcher is a good looking corner. Van Dinter, Bates and West are lesser known but do have some experience and need to be coached up. 
 

Mateos can coach. I was a bit surprised they didn’t get him some more proven guys outside of Kawecki so he will definitely have his work cut out for him. But there are several guys now with some playing experience in that room. It’s been reported they may still add one there too. 

[JosephC]

14 hours ago, yourout said:

I'd love to get excited about all the guys that brought in but I've seen this movie before. When you can't coach you can't coach.

To be honest, this transfer class is really hard to get excited about, especially after they punted on the high school recruiting class.

I don't base everything on rankings, but at I type, 247 ranks the transfer class at #42 and, ironically enough, that big-time Cincinnati program at #41.  Again, Fickell and the coaching staff just do not appear to be operating at the Big 10 level.

McIntosh sent out Ted Kellner to do the little mini-tour and proclaim how the Badgers would be in the top 1/3 of the conference in NIL spending.  That was crap from the get-go, because how would they know that?  How do they know the exact numbers of what other teams spent last year and how would they know what other team would be spending in 2026?  But to think that they would have spent top 1/3 Big 10 money on this class is laughable (and they didn't, that big boost McIntosh promised was nothing but a heap of garbage).  I never thought for a minute that they would go out and make a big splash signing like Sam Leavitt, but I did expect they to play towards the top of the market at key positions.  One could argue they did that at center, but it sure does not look like they did that anywhere else.

I thought for sure they would get to 7 wins next year (including bowl game) considering how light the schedule is.  But with how underwhelming this off-season has been, know I'm not even sure they will hit that number.  They may be literally down to the Purdue/Rutgers level for the long-haul.

[Joseph Zarr]

(D II's Augustana - 1st Team all-NSIC selection in 2025)

[LouisEly]

27 minutes ago, JosephC said:

I don't base everything on rankings, but at I type, 247 ranks the transfer class at #42 and, ironically enough, that big-time Cincinnati program at #41.  Again, Fickell and the coaching staff just do not appear to be operating at the Big 10 level.

McIntosh sent out Ted Kellner to do the little mini-tour and proclaim how the Badgers would be in the top 1/3 of the conference in NIL spending.  That was crap from the get-go, because how would they know that?  How do they know the exact numbers of what other teams spent last year and how would they know what other team would be spending in 2026?  But to think that they would have spent top 1/3 Big 10 money on this class is laughable (and they didn't, that big boost McIntosh promised was nothing but a heap of garbage). 

So, is that on the coaching staff or is that on the AD/big-time boosters?

[homer]

On3 has UW at 18 nationally and 3 in the Big 10

[Dmiles23]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

That was crap from the get-go, because how would they know that?  How do they know the exact numbers of what other teams spent last year and how would they know what other team would be spending in 2026?  But to think that they would have spent top 1/3 Big 10 money on this class is laughable (and they didn't, that big boost McIntosh promised was nothing but a heap of garbage).  I never thought for a minute that they would go out and make a big splash signing like Sam Leavitt, but I did expect they to play towards the top of the market at key positions.  One could argue they did that at center, but it sure does not look like they did that anywhere else.

I don't want to argue most of your post, but give my thoughts on your string of questions here.

I'm sure they have a VERY good idea of what other teams are spending and plan to spend.  You're right, they may not have exact amounts, but they hear what most transfers are getting and can very easily add that up.  The "insiders" know amounts for the players, so of course the universities who are in contact with the kids and agents know what they are getting.

I would bet very much that the Badgers are in the top 1/3 in spending this NIL period.  The Badgers are not 1 Sam Leavitt away from being a national championship contender.  They have brought in 32 players from the portal so far.  Some of the other B1G spenders have brought in:  16 (OSU), 17 (Maybe not a big spender, but a top team), 17 (Michigan), 12 (Oregon), and 8 (USC).  So X amount of dollars spread amongst 32 players is a lot different that X amount of dollars spread between 17.  The thing that I really like about this class is they brought in a number of players with multiple years of eligibility left.  

The difference in this class compared to the previous couple, imo, is they have brought in more players from high level programs with the athletic profile, but they haven't really seen the field yet.  It's yet to be determined if that will work, but the more options they have to throw against the wall to see what sticks, the better.

[LouisEly]

Almost 4.000 FBS players entered the portal, plus another 2,700 FCS and over 4,000 D2/D3 players.

I have no idea how any recruiting website can accurately rank and rate all of those players.

[Joseph Zarr]

I don't know anything BUT acquiring a young man named 'Stylz Blackmon' has to carry some First Team All-Name considerations, no? 

[Joseph Zarr]

 

[JosephC]

Jennifer Mnookin has resigned her position.  She is off to Columbia University.  We'll see if the next chancellor has an interest in the athletic department...my gut feeling is probably not.  Would be nice to get someone who would turn up the heat on McIntosh.

[nate82]

2 hours ago, JosephC said:

Jennifer Mnookin has resigned her position.  She is off to Columbia University.  We'll see if the next chancellor has an interest in the athletic department...my gut feeling is probably not.  Would be nice to get someone who would turn up the heat on McIntosh.

The chancellor of a University should be looking to improve the academics at a school not worrying about the sports teams at the school.  

[Samurai Bucky]

15 hours ago, nate82 said:

The chancellor of a University should be looking to improve the academics at a school not worrying about the sports teams at the school.  

The chancellor needs to understand that in today's environment, the two are somewhat symbiotic.  If the new chancellor gets a good athletic director, then he/she won't have to worry.

Signed,
Donna Shalala

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

The chancellor needs to understand that in today's environment, the two are somewhat symbiotic.  If the new chancellor gets a good athletic director, then he/she won't have to worry.

Signed,
Donna Shalala

Bullseye. We can argue whether or not it's a proper placement of priorities, but absolutely.

[RedStickBrew]

Rams OT Rob Havenstein announced retirement. Former Badger had a nice NFL career. 

[nate82]

The B10 wants to expand the playoffs to 24 teams and get rid of the conference championship game.  They would also get rid of the automatic qualifiers.  Some of the playoff games would be played at the universities home field.

This is being driven by the B10 and their TV contracts.  The SEC wants a 16 team playoff but would keep the automatic qualifiers.  The B10 is against this.  

[owbc]

6 hours ago, nate82 said:

The B10 wants to expand the playoffs to 24 teams and get rid of the conference championship game.  They would also get rid of the automatic qualifiers.  Some of the playoff games would be played at the universities home field.

This is being driven by the B10 and their TV contracts.  The SEC wants a 16 team playoff but would keep the automatic qualifiers.  The B10 is against this.  

Wisconsin might have a chance when they expand to 48 in a few years 

[homer]

 

 

[JosephC]

  Not hard to win "bidding wars" when you avoid the top couple tiers of players at nearly every position.

 

[nate82]

UW football ticket sale revenue doubled Indiana’s last season and was 7th overall in the B10. Though Michigan and Ohio States ticket revenue combined is almost equal to the 3rd to 5th ranked teams.  

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7071017/2026/02/26/big-ten-financial-reports-2025/

[homer]

Lil Sorgi?

[JosephC]

Kind of surprised that the Badgers would be playing that low in the QB market after McIntosh swindled 14.6 million dollars of taxpayer dollars (annually) to pay football players.  I figured with Kellner's money, plus all that free money (unless you are the taxpayer), that the Badgers would be looking to grab players in the top 10 at every position.