New Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell isn't putting any limitations on what he can accomplish in the 2023 season. Taking over a Wisconsin football program that is coming off its worst season in 14 years, Luke Fickell expects the Badgers to be much better.

Under Paul Chryst and interim coach Jim Leonhard, the Wisconsin football team posted a 7-6 record in the 2022 season. The Badgers had a losing record in the conference, finishing fifth in the Big Ten West standings. According to Fickell, Wisconsin should be aiming to compete for the Big Ten championship.

“We have one objective and that's to play for a championship,” Fickell said at Big Ten media days on Thursday, via ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. “That won't ever change. … Nobody outside the walls of our team will define what success looks like for us.”

Fickell became the Wisconsin football coach by turning the Cincinnati football program into one of the nation's best. In his last five seasons in Cincinnati, Fickell led the Bearcats to a 53-10 record. The Bearcats were in the final AP Top 25 poll four times, including a pair of top-eight appearances.

Why did Fickell leave all that success behind in favor of Wisconsin?

“It has a lot to do with being back in the Big Ten,” Fickell said, “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.”

Fickell was an Ohio State assistant coach from 2002-2016. Now, he'll try to help the Badgers overtake the Buckeyes as one of the Big Ten's top teams.