What Went Wrong With UW Football

Nothing will change results with these players. They are a different breed with different inspirations and motivations than this keyboard warrior and probably the majority on here. We're never going to be happy with these guys.

ESpecially this offensive line. I doubt the results would be better with Edwards at QB. They simply have shown to not be 1 on 1 D1 talent and they haven't been coached and strategically implemented to make the offensive line a D1 line.

If you don’t have an offensive line you will not have an offense.

Yes, the current offensive line was probably more suited to Dairy Raid, but other programs turn over in a year with the portal. This is poor evaluation and poor recruiting - which is on the coaching staff and recruiting staff. The buck stops with Coach Fick.

Whatever other shortcomings Bucky Football has are exponentially magnified because of the horrendous offensive line play.

And, then you have all the other impediments to creating a championship football environment at Wisconsin.

Coach Fick probably isn't going anywhere, because seriously, who could do better?

And, I'll bet you he's living in hell.
 
GBP4EVER said:
I wonder if they might wait to December to fire him if they do. I keep seeing if fired before December 1st as the date he gets 25-27 million buyout. Do you wait until after that date to lower the buyout to pay closer to $20 million?
Click to expand...
Depends on the red-tape that UW is so well known for. If they're going to do the whole "job needs to be posted for x weeks before a hiring is made", then you may need to fire him a couple of weeks earlier and eat the extra money,

On the other hand if they are more flexible and you are doing your homework via back-channels and can make a relatively quick hire, sure, wait until Dec 1. I mean, hell, the last game is on Nov 29, so wait until Monday Dec 1 to fire him, but then you need to name a new coach no later than Dec 10th. Get that staff up and running quickly so they can identify players on the current roster that they want to work to retain. Then prepare to hit the portal hard starting on Jan 2.

Just as important is to make a decision on the AD. If you don't have faith in him to hire the next coach, you need to make that move in the next 2-3 weeks to get a new AD in place the week before Thanksgiving.
 
How did we get here? I know this didn't happen overnight, and it's not just Fickell.
Is it that we're going after the players that we used to go after, but lose them to bigger NIL $'s - and haven't invested enough time with the next tier of players and they also go elsewhere? You would have thought Fickell's success before UW would have helped recruit - but that never really happened other than a few that followed him.
But the fact is, post Covid - the Badgers have not been anywhere close to where they were for the 20+ years prior.
 
HowardK4 said:
How did we get here? I know this didn't happen overnight, and it's not just Fickell.
Is it that we're going after the players that we used to go after, but lose them to bigger NIL $'s - and haven't invested enough time with the next tier of players and they also go elsewhere? You would have thought Fickell's success before UW would have helped recruit - but that never really happened other than a few that followed him.
But the fact is, post Covid - the Badgers have not been anywhere close to where they were for the 20+ years prior.
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Several factors...
First, the spread O has changed the type of OL/DL kids that came out of WI; it's not the same quality anymore.( That hurt)
Second, PC burned out and left the shelf empty for his last 3 years. Big problem.
Third, NIL and everything that comes with it.
Fourth, the portal and everything that comes with it.
Last, you have the UW disadvantage: high academic standards, tough transfer rules in a cold Midwest city.

Mix that up and you get what we got.
 
Mark87 said:
Several factors...
First, the spread O has changed the type of OL/DL kids that came out of WI; it's not the same quality anymore.( That hurt)
Second, PC burned out and left the shelf empty for his last 3 years. Big problem.
Third, NIL and everything that comes with it.
Fourth, the portal and everything that comes with it.
Last, you have the UW disadvantage: high academic standards, tough transfer rules in a cold Midwest city.

Mix that up and you get what we got.
Click to expand...
sounds like an insurmountable problem. perhaps, uw is destined to be the perennial b1g doormat.
 
here is an excerpt from an article about packers dc jeff hafley. it talks about some of the very issues that plague the badgers. it's a great article btw, if you'd like to read the whole thing:

'I Had Stopped Coaching:' How Packers' Jeff Hafley Found Himself In His NFL Return | FOX Sports

Jeff Hafley was gainfully employed as Boston College's head coach before seemingly taking a demotion to become the Packers' defensive coordinator. Here's how he went from saying "I don't want to do this" to regaining his joy for coaching.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com

But Hafley wasn't really coaching, and he wasn't really happy.

"I'm a guy that loves football and loves to coach, and my last two years, I wasn't coaching football anymore," he told me. "I felt like I was doing some other job. It was hard for me to leave the team, so hard for me to leave the team, but I just wasn't myself anymore, because I wasn't doing what I really wanted to do."

The emergence of NIL and the threat of player transfers grew with each year at Boston College. Wannstedt talked regularly with Hafley, and recognized how much of an uphill battle recruiting became when other schools in the ACC had larger financial commitments.

"Boston College, they don't have the resources that Clemson has, some of those," Wannstedt says. "You're busting your tail recruiting these guys, you train them for a year, you coach them for a year, and then they start having success and you can't afford to keep them. The NIL was just starting to gear up then, and some of these teams couldn't compete."

Hafley remembers sitting down with receiver Zay Flowers, a future first-round draft pick, and Flowers was upfront with him, telling him other schools were calling with offers, tempting him to take more money elsewhere. He convinced Flowers to stay, but it was a sign of everything to come.

"It's devastating," Hafley says. "When that keeps happening, over and over again, you pour everything you have into these guys and you're teaching them and coaching them and you were maybe their only offer, and now they potentially might be leaving for money. They're not thinking about their degree. They're not thinking about their education. So instead of coaching, I'm on the phone trying to raise money."

"I got to the point where I said, 'I don't want to do this,'" he adds. "I had stopped coaching. I was doing a job that wasn't what I'd always dreamt to do."

Hafley had two years left on his Boston college contract, which reportedly paid him $4 million annually and is close to what top NFL coordinators can make. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur reached out to Hafley, who worked with LaFleur's brother Mike with the 49ers. After they connected, it became clear that a return to the NFL was exactly what Hafley needed.

"I didn't know what my expectation was, other than I couldn't wait to get back to coaching football and immersing myself in football again," Hafley says. "So far, it's been a lot of fun. You ask if this is what I expected? Yeah. I love what I'm doing. I love going to work. I love the guys I coach. I love being around the staff. I look forward to it every day."
 
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