If you can just step back, take your heart out of it for a moment, and analyze it as a management exercise, the whole controversy over the future of the Wisconsin football program and, indeed, the whole Athletic Department is fascinating.
The latest news, as of this morning, is that Luke Fickell will be back next season. Athletic Director Chris McIntosh confirmed that and he wouldn’t be in a position to do that if his own job wasn’t secure. So, we can assume that Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin has told McIntosh that he too is good to go for another year at least.
A dwindling number of fans will be happy to hear that, a growing number will be outraged and some will be just confused. McIntosh made a bold move when he hired Fickell at a record salary for the UW three years ago. There was a sense that the Badgers were stuck in second gear and they needed a fresh start. Credit McIntosh for taking a leap.
But all the mounting evidence is that it was a spectacular gamble that has failed spectacularly. Fickell’s team has lost six games in a row and 10 in the Big Ten going back to last season. It’s likely they’ll finish the season without another win and at the bottom of the conference.
Even more importantly there is little sign of progress. The record has gotten worse in each of Fickell’s three seasons and you can’t blame everything on injuries and tough schedules. No matter how much adversity Wisconsin has faced, things shouldn’t be this bad. McIntosh staked his career on this hire and it looks like he lost.
And yet, from Mnookin, through former AD and coach Barry Alvarez, through mega-booster Ted Kellner and on down through McIntosh and Fickell the decision has been made to stay the course.
Now, if Fickell defies the odds and turns things around people will write management books about it because nobody else is doing this. College football programs are firing coaches mid season right and left — and paying out obscene contract buyouts. By the way, that’s a reform that must happen. College presidents need to put their feet down and insist that there will be no more contracts like these.
Wisconsin may have made the calculation that rather than blow $28 million to make Fickell go away, they’ll take some of those resources and bulk up their recruiting and their NIL deals. The theory might be that Fickell has been a successful coach in other places and if he just had the horses, he’d do well here. And he still has the support of his players. He hasn’t lost the locker room. That counts for something.
Because this approach is such an outlier it’d be almost revolutionary if it worked. Anyway, like it or not, it looks like we’re going to find out if it does.
That’s if for this week, sports fans. I’m doing some bow hunting this weekend. Have a good one.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
For the last three (3) decades, fall Saturday mornings were for unfurling my Badger Flags, and looking forward to Bucky, if not always winning, at least playing competitive football.
Lately, the flags are still hoisted, but the anticipation of a good game has given way to the underlying dread of how bad it’ll be…this time.
A neighbor walked by as I was setting them out this morning (for Badger men’s BB, a lily amongst a sea of weeds) in the pre-dawn darkness. After lamenting the state of affairs, he told me he was going to the game tomorrow.
My reply? He’ll be able to move into better seats…and he’d never have to prove his bravery again.
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I couldn’t agree more. Let’s hope it works. I’m still turning in my season tickets until there is some proof that there is a glimmer of hope that we can beat a Big 10 team again. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone as I’m sure that this Saturday the stands will be very empty. Some will blame the weather but we know better. It kind of reminds me of late 70’s going to the games (when I was in college) just to party and didn’t care if we went into the stadium.
BTW good luck with the hunt. Harvest a nice one and remember you can’t eat the horns.
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well, after all is said and done, more will be said than done. and the Badgers will be mired in one very big manure pile.
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