It is time for the Wisconsin Badgers to tug the plug on the Luke Fickell period.
With fellow Huge Ten packages the UCLA Bruins and Penn State Nittany Lions already within the hunt for a head coach after firing DeShaun Foster and James Franklin, respectively, the Badgers ought to quickly observe go well with.
On Saturday, Wisconsin (2-5, 0-4 in Huge Ten) dropped its ninth consecutive convention recreation, 34-0 at dwelling in opposition to Related Press No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0 in Huge Ten), the workforce’s second consecutive shutout loss at Camp Randall after final Saturday’s 37-0 loss to Iowa (4-2, 2-1 in Huge Ten). Wisconsin’s final Huge Ten win got here on October 19, 2024, at Northwestern.
Luke Fickell’s period has reached the tip of its course
What as soon as regarded like a home-run rent has become a catastrophe, as Wisconsin has reached its lowest level because the Don Morton period (1987-89). Fickell led Cincinnati to an unprecedented Faculty Soccer Playoff berth in 2021, changing into the one mid-major program to succeed in the four-team CFP in its 10-year existence (2014-23), and regarded like a superb selection after the college fired former head coach Paul Chryst 5 video games into the 2022 season.
However the Badgers have regressed underneath Fickell’s watch and are on observe for consecutive dropping seasons for the primary time since 1989-90, Morton’s final season and the primary yr underneath future Wisconsin legend Barry Alvarez.
The offense has devolved to turn out to be not solely the worst within the Huge Ten however within the nation. Getting into Saturday, Wisconsin ranked No. 131 in FBS in scoring (15.5 factors per recreation) and No. 130 in complete offense (292.5 yards per recreation). It is certainly one of two energy convention groups (North Carolina Tar Heels) to fail to common a minimum of 300 yards per recreation.
This system must be a lot additional alongside in its improvement with Fickell as head coach. But it surely’s more and more clear that the Badgers are ready for a breakthrough that may by no means come.
Maintaining Fickell by the common season would solely delay what must be an inevitability. It may be pricey.
Per CBS Sports activities, the Badgers are on the hook for 80 p.c of the cash owed on Fickell’s preliminary deal — $25 million on the finish of the season, so barely extra with 5 video games remaining — with a buyout. Firing Fickell in-season would give him time to pursue different jobs, chopping into the quantity the Badgers owe him in future years.
With the losses piling up and a brutal schedule the remainder of the season, it is pointless to increase the Fickell period any longer. Wisconsin’s ultimate 5 opponents are a mixed 26-7 (.788), making it unlikely the workforce will expertise a late-season surge and turn out to be bowl-eligible. It is time for the Badgers to look towards the longer term, which Fickell has no enterprise being a part of.
