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Wisconsin head football coach Luke Fickell revealed a reason why he came to Wisconsin during Big Ten Media Days on Thursday.
“It has a lot to do with being back in the Big Ten,” Fickell said, via a Friday tweet from ESPN Senior College Football Senior Writer Adam Rittenberg. “It has a lot to do with the respect I had playing against and preparing for Wisconsin. … Understanding, recognizing what the culture what I assumed the culture was like from afar.”
Wisconsin hired Luke Fickell, a former co-defensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes, after he spent the last six years as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats football program. He helped guide Cincinnati to a 57-18 record in six years and a trip to the College Football Playoff Semifinal in 2021. The Bearcats earned a record of 9-4 during the 2022 season and a 13-1 record in 2021.
Wisconsin finished with a record of 7-6 and a win over Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Interim head coach Jim Leonhard, now a senior football analyst for Illinois, earned a record of 4-3 after the Badgers fired head coach Paul Chryst in October. Luke Fickell was on the sidelines at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, but let Leonhard take the lead.
“I'm coaching in a way that's letting, really, these guys kind of handle things the way that they've handled them,” Fickell said, via ESPN. “And they've been great. They've been really mature about it. Jim's been awesome.
“I'm kind of a guy that just, you know, maybe a little bit more of a figurehead and we'll communicate with those guys in situational stuff, but we have changed nothing — the way we practice, the way they go about a Tuesday practice, a Wednesday practice, a Thursday practice, a Friday practice, how they're gonna do game day.”
The Badgers gained a commitment from former SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai in December, further adding to a roster that features a few key returning players. Running back Braelon Allen, who rushed for 1,242 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, will return in 2023.
