Meet New Wisconsin FB Coach Luke Fickell

Good add for defense thought he might have been in running to get HC job at UC
Not to change subject but I think Gino Guidugli gets a long look. Area kid who went on to be a Bearcat icon
 
Gino could end up Bearcats HC, no doubt about it. His name is on a lot of the recruiting lists, as his being the main contact over there. Him leaving could sway some to de-commit.
 
It's been a week now, and nothing I've seen has dampened my enthusiasm for the Fickell hire. Very surprised that McIntosh was able to convince him that Wisconsin was the place to be. He's had a good first week and so far has done a good job of making a relatively smooth transition. I'm sure he'll put together a solid staff, and certainly a better offensive coaching staff than we had this year.

Now, none of this means Fickell will have massive success. He'll have to prove he can recruit at a somewhat different level than what he was at Cincinnati. Not saying he wasn't getting the job done, but the Big Ten is a level up and he'll have to convince the same players plus a few more big recruits every year to come to Wisconsin. That said, despite all the concern about Wisconsin's facilities, they are a step up from Cincinnati's and there are some likely improvements coming. He should have at the very least the same success as he's had in recent years.

I had some misgivings about Chris McIntosh as AD. So far he's put most of those fears at ease. Thinking outside the box and getting Fickell already shows me that he's not just a "Lord Alvarez" yes-man. I think Barry was in the "hire Jim Leonhard" camp. Hopefully this will work out and start a new era of success in UW sports.

Lastly, there are already some fans worried about Fickell leaving for the OSU job. That's certainly a possibility, but first, we have to see a collapse by Ryan Day and also a couple of years of double digit wins by the Badgers. I don't think OSU fans will be happy with a 7-5, 8-4, or even 9-3 Fickell hire. He'll have to have a double-digit wins season or two at Wisconsin for OSU to make that hire. If he has that level of success, Badger fans should be thrilled and it will make getting a high level replacement for Fickell a piece of cake.
 
With Satterfield getting the U of Cincinnati HC job might have some additional implications for UW staff
 
Gino would probably be #1 on the list of people Luke might tap for a job in Madison, since Satterfield got the job. He's got some recruiting chops.
 
It's been a week now, and nothing I've seen has dampened my enthusiasm for the Fickell hire. Very surprised that McIntosh was able to convince him that Wisconsin was the place to be. He's had a good first week and so far has done a good job of making a relatively smooth transition. I'm sure he'll put together a solid staff, and certainly a better offensive coaching staff than we had this year.

Now, none of this means Fickell will have massive success. He'll have to prove he can recruit at a somewhat different level than what he was at Cincinnati. Not saying he wasn't getting the job done, but the Big Ten is a level up and he'll have to convince the same players plus a few more big recruits every year to come to Wisconsin. That said, despite all the concern about Wisconsin's facilities, they are a step up from Cincinnati's and there are some likely improvements coming. He should have at the very least the same success as he's had in recent years.

I had some misgivings about Chris McIntosh as AD. So far he's put most of those fears at ease. Thinking outside the box and getting Fickell already shows me that he's not just a "Lord Alvarez" yes-man. I think Barry was in the "hire Jim Leonhard" camp. Hopefully this will work out and start a new era of success in UW sports.

Lastly, there are already some fans worried about Fickell leaving for the OSU job. That's certainly a possibility, but first, we have to see a collapse by Ryan Day and also a couple of years of double digit wins by the Badgers. I don't think OSU fans will be happy with a 7-5, 8-4, or even 9-3 Fickell hire. He'll have to have a double-digit wins season or two at Wisconsin for OSU to make that hire. If he has that level of success, Badger fans should be thrilled and it will make getting a high level replacement for Fickell a piece of cake.
This will be an interesting test on UW fans / alumni expectations. With USC and UCLA coming aboard, the likelihood of no divisions and also the 12 team CFP dynamic it’s not business as usual in the B1G.

First, Obviously the goal in conference is to win the trophy and head to Pasadena but with the announcement of CFP expansion the Rose now becomes part of the “tournament”. So the immediate goal is to play for the conference title and qualify for the CFP. If you don’t is your resume good enough for an at large? Obviously OSU, Michigan and even PSU at least currently are at another level and realistically USC is probably in that mix. UCLA has the campus and resources to be in that mix. So with the NY6 games now part of the playoff structure that leaves trips to Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville as the next prime bowl destinations.

#2 the record. It’s not long ago that UW won 10 even 13 games a couple of years ago. Right or wrong it sparked the conversation can UW take it to the next level. So will 9-10-11 wins consistently be acceptable? To the majority probably, it’s worked for years. But McIntosh has set the bar a bit higher. He’s paid Fick $6+m per, upped the coaches pool, has set championships as the bar so if there is no B1G title in 3-5 or even 6 years will many of the rank and file accept that? Again probably but that’s the test.

Wisconsin sports fans are loyal to the core. There’s going to be a 2-3 year honeymoon period with Fick and that’s both realistic and on point. It’s clear UW, McIntosh have set the bar higher and at the least be in the mix for the 12 team tournament is going to be many fan’s expectations not just 9 wins and a trip to Tampa.
 
Bill Jacklin initially thought one of his assistant coaches pulled a prank on him Thursday night.
“I got just a text that (said), 'Hey coach, it’s Luke Fickell. Are you free at 9 o'clock tomorrow to talk ball and players?’” Jacklin said.
Jacklin hesitated at first because the text came from a number he did not recognize. He recalled only seeing a couple coaches from NCAA Division III programs visit him personally during his time at Slinger High School, which sits northwest of Milwaukee. The Owls football coach never had one from the Division I level stop.
Then came Friday morning. Jacklin found himself face-to-face with Fickell, the new University of Wisconsin football coach, in one of the school’s conference rooms talking about players, philosophy and the game itself.

“My impressions are I think he's gonna do real well,” said Jacklin, who coaches class of 2025 offensive line recruit Charlie Hoitink. “I don't expect him coming to visit Slinger all the time, but I think he values relationships the way he talked. … But he mentioned how relationships are important to him and the business aspect isn't what he thrives at. He thrives at that relationship thing and getting to know people and creating great young men.

“That's my impression I got is that I think he'll fit in really well at Wisconsin.”
Fickell unveiled one aspect of his recruiting philosophy during his introductory news conference last week, noting the similarity between UW and his former school, Cincinnati, of a 300-mile radius where he can recruit the “core and crux” of his program. Fickell admitted he needed to learn more about the 50- to 100-mile radius around Madison, and he set sights on doing just that the first day after the recruiting dead period.
The State Journal spoke Monday with four in-state coaches who Fickell visited, and all overwhelmingly complimented Fickell’s initial interactions.

Arrowhead football coach Matt Harris met Fickell at about 11 o’clock Friday morning for about an hour. What stood out to Harris the most during Fickell’s first visit to Arrowhead, one of the state’s most recognizable high school programs, was an aura of relatability.

“You could just feel that presence and that vibe about him,” said Harris, who previously coached current UW wide receiver Chimere Dike at Waukesha North High School. “He just seems like a super genuine, great guy, and I feel like it's not gonna take long for him to do the things that, of course, most coaches say when they come into a new position.”
Fickell traveled to Waukesha Catholic Memorial later that day to meet athletic director Matt Bergan and football coach Bill Young. Young, who has coached 45 years at the high school powerhouse and accumulated a 392-121 overall record, came away very impressed.
“Wisconsin made a great choice in coach Fickell. He commands the room,” Young said. “He was great with our kids, great with the coaches. Very personable person, and he just did a great job with our kids. And we just talked about a lot of people that we both kind of have mutually known in the football world, but the guy, he's sharp. He's really, really good.”
Fickell spoke a bit about his philosophy while visiting with Young and Bergan.
“What they're trying to do is when you get a kid, when you're looking at his academics, their job is if they're a 2.5 (GPA) kid, they will get that kid to about a 3.3,” Young said. “Athletically, whatever your God-given ability is, they want to up that by hard work both on the football field and in the weight room, working on speed and conditioning. And he's just got a plan.”

Fickell also made the trek Friday to Mukwonago High School, the WIAA Division II state runner-up, to meet football coach Mike Gnewuch. Gnewuch is in his fifth year at the Classic 8 Conference program after coaching at Fond du Lac for six years and previously serving as an assistant at Arrowhead.
He appreciated Fickell’s gesture of visiting the in-state schools. The two talked in his office for about an hour, and the UW coach asked Gnewuch for his feedback on the layout of high school football in Wisconsin.
“(He) was eager to get my opinion on where things need to go and my experiences with Badger football while I've been a head coach,” Gnewuch said. “So I walked away and anybody that's asked and anybody I've talked to, I just think he's an exceptional man and obviously an exceptional coach.
“And I'm really, really excited for Wisconsin football and for the entire state because he is really locked in on nailing down that 300-mile radius like he said in his press conference and getting to know the coaches and just getting to know the high school football landscape in our state.”
Keeping the best in-state players within its borders has been paramount to UW’s success since Barry Alvarez took over the football program more than 30 years ago. Fickell mentioned to reporters Sunday that he was out from about 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and made contact with a few recruits while at the schools.
Gnewuch and Fickell went to Mukwonago’s gym to see Nathan Roy, a four-star 2024 offensive lineman by 247Sports composite rankings, during a basketball shootaround after the coaches’ chat. Roy told the State Journal in November that he held 11 offers, including one from UW.
Harris invited 2024 linemen Jace Gilbert, Derek Jensen and Garrett Sexton — all three are receiving interest from FBS schools — into his office to meet Fickell.
Bergan and Young said a number of Catholic Memorial recruits were introduced to Fickell, most notably 2024 recruits Donovan Harbour and Corey Smith and 2025 offensive lineman Owen Strebig. 247Sports, On3 and Rivals all designate Harbour and Smith as four-star recruits and among the top 250 players in the country for their recruiting cycle. Strebig has received Power Five attention early as a sophomore.
“I will say that all three of our student-athletes left extremely impressed with their first impression of coach (Fickell) and just the way he commanded the room, the way that he made the kids feel special,” Bergan said. “He went to a Catholic high school. His son went to a Catholic high school and so we had that conversation piece from the start, and so he did a great job of kind of matching up his story with a story that related to our kids that he is currently recruiting in Wisconsin and is looking at.
“Overall, just, he was really organized. You could tell he wanted to build a relationship, but at the same time he was able to get his eyes on those recruits and tell them how important they are to Wisconsin's future and really focusing on getting them up on a visit here coming up this winter so that they can continue to build that relationship.”
All four high school coaches noted one other thing about Fickell’s visits — he did not bring a recruiting staffer or assistant.
“He made mention that he wanted to make sure that he had as many Badger coaches recruiting people on the road as possible,” Bergan said. “And he knew that meant that he was just going to have to trust his phone and Google maps and get from one school to the next even though he really had no idea where he was headed.
“We were really impressed with that fact.”
 
Good for Fickell hitting the ground running and making a whistle stop tour if you say of the high schools to shake hands and get a good quick first impression going.
 
If you want to recruit grass roots, you have to go out, and be part of the grass roots. His presence in the field so quickly is going to have an overwhelmingly good effect on recruiting.

This was an impressive first move. I really do like where this thing is headed.
 
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