Wisconsin AD Makes Expectations For Luke Fickell Crystal Clear: 'No Ceiling'
Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Chris McIntosh sounds ready to bring a national title home to Camp Randall.
The Badgers open the season in a week against Buffalo, and fans have unbelievably high expectations now that Luke Fickell will usher in a new era of football at the University of Wisconsin.
The program averaged double digit wins for the better part of the past few decades, but inconsistent play from 2020-2022 cost Paul Chryst his job. Now, it's on Fickell to turn things around, and fans aren't willing to give him any kind of grace period.
Can Luke Fickell turn around the Wisconsin Badgers in year one? (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Luke Fickell ushers in a new era of Wisconsin Badgers football in Madison.
While it's unclear whether or not McIntosh, the man who fired Chryst to hire Fickell, has a timeline for success, he didn't leave much room for interpretation with his expectations. He thinks no mountain is too high to climb.
"Luke believes, as do I, that there’s no ceiling on us at Wisconsin," McIntosh told Sports Illustrated during a recent profile of the football team and the changes that are happening.
Translation: The days of feeling good about competing for Big Ten titles and going to the Rose Bowl are over. It's time to win national titles.
Wisconsin Badgers Athletic Director Chris McIntosh has high expectations for Luke Fickell. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
It's also noted in the SI profile that Fickell never had any interest in coaching at Wisconsin and hadn't once thought about it.
The Badgers coach told Sports Illustrated, "I never once said, 'Hey, someday I’d love to coach at Wisconsin.' But as things evolved and changed, when this became a possibility, that’s when the interest and uniqueness of it became real. You start to think, ‘O.K., what can we do there?'"
Wisconsin is getting a fresh start.
As a Wisconsin man, I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see a guy like Chris McIntosh running the show. It's a massive change of pace.
Barry Alvarez was a great coach and one of the best ADs in America during his time in Madison. However, Badgers fans had settled for the mindset of "Let's be happy with 10 wins, a Big Ten West title, a shot in the conference game and then a great bowl game."
Most teams would kill for that outcome on a regular basis. However, you can only be the hot bridesmaid for so long before it's time to level up and get married.
Tanner Mordecai and the Wisconsin Badgers are expected to be very solid in 2023. (Credit: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK0
The Badgers were stuck in a rut, and McIntosh in what was nothing short of a truly stunning move fired one of the winningest coaches in America and the third winningest coach in program history.
Paul Chryst won 72% of his games in Madison. He won nine games the year before he was fired, but a change had to happen. McIntosh wanted to leave a mark on the program and firing Alvarez's chosen son did just that.
Fickell was brought in, and the expectation is Wisconsin needs to be in the College Football Playoff more times than not when it expands to 12 teams.
Will Luke Fickell win a national title at Wisconsin? (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
Week one against Buffalo should be a great look at the new and improved Wisconsin Badgers. The state and fans are ready. People will soon find out whether or not Luke Fickell can deliver.