Wisconsin Football 2025

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, CheezWizHed said:

It takes 3 years for a freshman to become an NFL level player, but each year there should be players ending the season better than they started. How many can you name that did that one under Fickell? 

Off the top of my head:

Vinny Anthony
Jack Nelson (remember how bad he was until his senior year?)
Preston Zachman
Joe Brunner
Tanor Bortolini (who was forced to move to center due to lack of center depth)
(Mahlman is not a NFL left tackle, but was considered a NFL prospect at right tackle)

Now, that may not seem like a lot, but can you tell me how many scholarship players are left from the 2022 team?  (Hint: you don't need all of your fingers and toes.  You don't even need all of your hands and feet.)

[homer]

4 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Butch Davis at Miami.

They had identical records year 1 and 2.

[LouisEly]

1 minute ago, homer said:

They had identical records year 1 and 2.

And year three they were flying banners over the stadium saying, "From national champs to national chumps".

[homer]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

And year three they were flying banners over the stadium saying, "From national champs to national chumps".

I don't think this is apples to apples with the  Fickell situation. Pretty sure no one would be calling for his head if they were coming off back to back 1 conference loss seasons. 

[LouisEly]

7 minutes ago, homer said:

I don't think this is apples to apples with the  Fickell situation. Pretty sure no one would be calling for his head if they were coming off back to back 1 conference loss seasons. 

This is exactly what you said:

4 hours ago, homer said:

I would be interested to know if there has been a program that got progressively worse the first three years of a coach's tenure and then became really good in year 4, 5, 6. Maybe that would offer me some hope.

 

You didn't say anything about what their conference record was their first two seasons.  All you said was that they "got progressively worse the first three years of a coach's tenure and then became really good in year 4, 5, 6."  I gave you exactly that with Butch Davis at Miami.

[Jim French Stepstool]

10 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Off the top of my head:

Vinny Anthony
Jack Nelson (remember how bad he was until his senior year?)
Preston Zachman
Joe Brunner
Tanor Bortolini (who was forced to move to center due to lack of center depth)
(Mahlman is not a NFL left tackle, but was considered a NFL prospect at right tackle)

 

Alliegro?

[rickmanningfan]

Fickell was the flavor of the month.  People confused that for future greatness.  Happens quite a bit.

[JosephC]

RB-Amari Latimer, the second ranked recruit per Rivals of the Badgers 2026 class, had an Ohio State visit and now one of the recruiting experts at On3 is putting it as a 60% chance that he goes to Ohio State.

[yourout]

2 hours ago, JosephC said:

RB-Amari Latimer, the second ranked recruit per Rivals of the Badgers 2026 class, had an Ohio State visit and now one of the recruiting experts at On3 is putting it as a 60% chance that he goes to Ohio State.

Much like basketball. When the blue bloods start calling the commitments go by by.

[owbc]

You would have to be crazy to go to Wisconsin at this time if you are good enough to have other options. At least go somewhere where the coach will bother to learn your name. 

[yourout]

5 hours ago, owbc said:

You would have to be crazy to go to Wisconsin at this time if you are good enough to have other options. At least go somewhere where the coach will bother to learn your name. 

I'm guessing our incoming recruiting class is going to be going south faster than our record is.

[JosephC]

Cignetti just got bumped to 11.5 million a year.  There will be more coaches that get raises before next season, but this puts Cignetti FOURTH on the list behind Kirby Smart, Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley.

Never thought I'd see an Indiana football coach as the fourth highest paid.

 

[LouisEly]

11 hours ago, JosephC said:

Cignetti just got bumped to 11.5 million a year.  There will be more coaches that get raises before next season, but this puts Cignetti FOURTH on the list behind Kirby Smart, Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley.

Never thought I'd see an Indiana football coach as the fourth highest paid.

 

We'll see how well he does after someone poaches Mike Shanahan.  Or if they can't get another top 5 transfer portal QB.

Something tells me that he wouldn't have been as successful with Phil Longo or Joe Rudolph as OC, or with Braedyn Locke or Hunter Simmons as QB.

[LouisEly]

11 hours ago, yourout said:

I'm guessing our incoming recruiting class is going to be going south faster than our record is.

Certainly possible.  But lots of kids hit the portal because they think they're good enough to start somewhere, and plenty of kids may see it as an opportunity to not have to wait three years to play.

[yourout]

Rumor Mill has it that they have located enough cash to cut Fickell loose after the Oregon game. Before the second by e

[nate82]

3 minutes ago, yourout said:

Rumor Mill has it that they have located enough cash to cut Fickell loose after the Oregon game. Before the second by e

They better have a HC already picked out also as it is getting late in the year for recruiting.  May lose the whole class if they don't get it right and possibly last years class also.  

[JosephC]

What good does it do to fire Fickell before the end of the year?  They would likely promote Matt Mitchell to head coach, but there is no way he'd retain that job for 2026.  The 2026 recruiting class will be sunk if they fired Fickell yesterday, tomorrow or the end of November.  A bunch of guys will drop when Fickell is fired, and who is going to commit when Mitchell is a lame-duck head coach?  Once you get into December, they would just be fighting for recruiting scraps.  I just took at look at Rivals top 250, and 245 of those players have already committed.  It's probably a safe bet that if one expanded that list to 500, that 90+% of those players are already committed.

The only high school recruits from the 2023 class that are on the current two-deep (+ injured) are-

WR - Trech Kekahuna (injured - normal starting SLOT)

TE - Tucker Ashcraft (second team)

ILB - Christian Alliegro (first team)

And I believe that is it.

A bunch of useful transfers came in like Fourqueen and Mordecai, but a good bunch of them came with Fickell from Cincinnati like Huber and Pauling.  But obviously those guys have limited eligibility at that point and were just bandages.  I think the only player from the transfers that is still here in 2025-

C -Jake Renfro (first team)

I would already consider the 2026 recruiting class to be lost.  Sure, they will likely score a good player or two, but to end up with something like a class that will have 8 future starters for a good team (not a 2-10 team) looks like a near impossibility.  Best chance would be to luck out big-time and grab a coordinator from a big program would might have 5 recruits follow him and 5 transfers follow him and that might make up 1/2 of a good class right there.  But I wouldn't count on that, and I hope McIntosh isn't dumb enough to make a short-sighted decision like that.  He needs to cast a big, wide net and hire the guy who will be best for the program long-term.

[JosephC]

As I type this, Wisconsin is a 25 point home dog and the o/u is 41 1/2,  I'm pretty sure a couple days ago, Ohio State was a 26 point favorite.  A Buckeye must have broken his leg or something, otherwise I'm not sure why anyone would put money on Wisconsin.

I don't think there are any operating dog tracks in the Madison area anymore.  If there was, the defensive coordinator could have just taken the defense to the track, let the mechanical rabbit go, and then tell the players to go chase that rabbit over and over and over again.  That's kind of the way I see this game going.  Ohio State players just running everywhere with the ball, and Badgers just trying to chase them down and not having much success doing so.

[JosephC]

And I almost forget, when McIntosh does hire the next coach, Mnookin should hire Alvarez as a consultant and have him completely immersed in the hiring process, start to finish.  I damn well would not trust McIntosh to do it on his own and not complete screw it up again.

[yourout]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

And I almost forget, when McIntosh does hire the next coach, Mnookin should hire Alvarez as a consultant and have him completely immersed in the hiring process, start to finish.  I damn well would not trust McIntosh to do it on his own and not complete screw it up again.

For sure..... This has to be a committee hire. No way you could let McIntosh do this on his own.

[yourout]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

What good does it do to fire Fickell before the end of the year?  They would likely promote Matt Mitchell to head coach, but there is no way he'd retain that job for 2026.  The 2026 recruiting class will be sunk if they fired Fickell yesterday, tomorrow or the end of November.  A bunch of guys will drop when Fickell is fired, and who is going to commit when Mitchell is a lame-duck head coach?  Once you get into December, they would just be fighting for recruiting scraps.  I just took at look at Rivals top 250, and 245 of those players have already committed.  It's probably a safe bet that if one expanded that list to 500, that 90+% of those players are already committed.

The only high school recruits from the 2023 class that are on the current two-deep (+ injured) are-

WR - Trech Kekahuna (injured - normal starting SLOT)

TE - Tucker Ashcraft (second team)

ILB - Christian Alliegro (first team)

And I believe that is it.

A bunch of useful transfers came in like Fourqueen and Mordecai, but a good bunch of them came with Fickell from Cincinnati like Huber and Pauling.  But obviously those guys have limited eligibility at that point and were just bandages.  I think the only player from the transfers that is still here in 2025-

C -Jake Renfro (first team)

I would already consider the 2026 recruiting class to be lost.  Sure, they will likely score a good player or two, but to end up with something like a class that will have 8 future starters for a good team (not a 2-10 team) looks like a near impossibility.  Best chance would be to luck out big-time and grab a coordinator from a big program would might have 5 recruits follow him and 5 transfers follow him and that might make up 1/2 of a good class right there.  But I wouldn't count on that, and I hope McIntosh isn't dumb enough to make a short-sighted decision like that.  He needs to cast a big, wide net and hire the guy who will be best for the program long-term.

Must be more going on than meets the eye if they don't wait till the end of the year.

[LouisEly]

13 hours ago, nate82 said:

They better have a HC already picked out also as it is getting late in the year for recruiting.  May lose the whole class if they don't get it right and possibly last years class also.  

Agreed.  And the earlier in the season they fire him, the more time it gives recruits and current players to look around and find another school.  

If I were the AD, I would already have outside attorneys contacting attorneys for candidates and drafting NDAs.  Once the NDAs are in place, then have preliminary discussions to gauge interest and salary requirements.  Once they have at least 3 candidates who are seriously interested who they like, then they can move forward with the process.

Given that it's a state job, there are state laws that have to be followed regarding posting the job.  I would fire him as late in the season such that they can meet the mandatory minimums for posting the job while being able to announce the new head coach the Monday after Thanksgiving.  When they fire him, they can tell the team and the recruits that they have someone in place but legally can't announce it until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, JosephC said:

I would already consider the 2026 recruiting class to be lost. 

The right guy can probably bring as many recruits with him as they would lose.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, yourout said:

For sure..... This has to be a committee hire. No way you could let McIntosh do this on his own.

Hearing much more bad than good things about McIntosh & his ability to run the department. It sounds more & more like something where you're better off with a new AD, a la 35 years ago when Richter came on, then hired Alvarez. The only problem is Mnookin is no Donna Shalala, and the Mac contract runs until the end of the 28-29 academic year.

 I wouldn't mind Alvarez being involved one bit.

[JosephC]

Also forgot to mention how Nebraska went into Minnesota last night and got dominated.  Goofers now up to 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big 10.  BADgers are likely looking at being at least 7 point underdogs in all their remaining games.