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.