Maybe It’s the Wisconsin Way

If this works out sports writers might start talking about “The Wisconsin Way.”

I refer to our state’s reluctance to fire its football coaches. Most people expected Wisconsin to fire Luke Fickell late last season as his team struggled for the third year in a row. Fickell’s record at Wisconsin is a dismal 17-21 and his teams have gotten worse each year. This is now the program’s lowest point in over three decades.

Fans were also ready to give a pink slip to Packers coach Matt LaFleur after his team melted down twice in three weeks to the Bears. The Chicago Freakin’ Bears! While LaFleur has a very good 76-40-1 regular season record, he’s 3-6 in the post season and 1-5 in his teams’ last six appearances. Moreover, the Packers performed poorly this season against inferior opponents even when they had Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft healthy. The Buffalo Bills’ coach Sean McDermott had a similar record — nine seasons with a great quarterback and no Super Bowls — and he got sacked. LaFleur is a good coach, but he seems to be missing that special something that wins championships.

And yet, the powers that be at both Wisconsin and Green Bay stood by their men. LaFleur even got a new contract and a raise while Fickell (inexplicably) gets an automatic $100,000 pay raise every year no matter how poorly his team performs.

Now, let me pause right here to admit that I’m with the mob. I’d have fired both these guys. And, in the case of the Packers, I’m a team owner. So, I’m upset with club president Ed Policy for not carrying out my wishes. But there you have it. LaFleur hasn’t responded to any of my play design suggestions either — and look where it got the team.

And yet, maybe it’ll all work out. It’s entirely possible that, while almost any other teams would have parted ways with Fickell and LaFleur, the Badgers and Packers may be pretty good next year riding the same horses.

As poorly as Fickell did during the season, he had been doing even worse in the off season. He did not do well retaining players or recruiting players out of high school. But he appears to have done quite well in the transfer portal. He’s added 31 players so far through that route and many look like starters or potential starters. When you consider that the 2026 campaign should be easier than previous schedules and that the injury bug that has bitten Fickell’s quarterbacks three years in a row has to let up, a winning season and a return to a bowl game could well be in the cards.

And the Packers will be a good team again next year. You can make an argument that if Parsons hadn’t gone down they’d still be playing this season. So if he can get back early in the next campaign and stay healthy and they can stay away from major injuries to other key players, they could compete for a Super Bowl appearance.

If those things happen the front offices will look level headed and smart. Stay the course. It’ll be the Wisconsin Way. And, of course, I will have been for it all along.