Wisconsin Football Coaching Hire Considered Best in the Nation

Wisconsin Badgers head football coach Luke Fickell knew a change needed to be made on the offensive line after a disappointing season under Jack Bicknell Jr. The product on the field was far from the program standard, and there were too many self-inflicted wounds.

That subpar play led to Fickell re-assigning Bicknell to another role within the program, which opened the door for the Badgers to hire Vanderbilt’s AJ Blazek as Wisconsin’s fourth offensive line coach in as many seasons.

“I had an opportunity just to sit down with him [Blazek] for a couple of hours and just have a cup of coffee, and there was pretty much no doubt exactly what he was all about,” Fickell told reporters.

“It had a lot to do with the energy and the, you know, the passion to just to be an offensive line coach… I thought that was was important.”

Media Outlet Thinks Wisconsin Football Crushed This Coaching Hire

Mike Huesmann of Mike Farrell Sports ranked his top position coaching hires made across college football this offseason.

Representing the best offensive line coaching hire of the cycle was none other than Badgers assistant AJ Blazek — who many are hoping will bring Wisconsin football back to the gold standard.

His coaching journey includes multi-year stints at Fort Hays State, Winona State, Western Illinois, Rutgers, North Dakota State, and Vanderbilt.

“AJ Blazek comes to Madison from Vanderbilt and before that he was the OL coach at NDSU where he won multiple national titles and sent several players to the NFL,” Huesmann wrote. “He knows how to coach his guys into a cohesive unit and to get after it. This could be a coup for a school that prided itself on OL play and the run game under Barry Alvarez but have gotten away from it lately.”

AJ Blazek Eager to Fix Some of the Badgers Schematic Wrinkles

Wisconsin football enters the 2024 season without starting center Tanor Bortolini — who is off to the NFL. The Badgers also lost key depth pieces in Nolan Rucci, Trey Wedig, and Dylan Barrett to the transfer portal.

However, the cupboards are far from bare. Wisconsin returns starting offensive tackles Jack Nelson, Riley Mahlman, and guard Joe Huber to provide a solid foundation to build around. Jake Renfro started at center in the ReliaQuest Bowl and is projected to keep that spot.

“As a new coach, you’ve got to acknowledge what’s been done good here so they know they’re a good group and then here’s the couple things we can fix,” Blazek told reporters. “There’s some schematic little wrinkles that I think you can clean up. There are fundamental things that we can clean up and pass pro at times, but the biggest one is just building that confidence in them to where that they take the field with a swagger.”

The remaining guard spot will be the biggest competition along the Wisconsin football offensive line. Joe Brunner and JP Benzschawel are the Badgers’ top options to battle for that job.

There is plenty of work for Blazek to do this spring and fall to get the Wisconsin Badgers back to where they need to be, but he feels like a good hire with a track record of sticking around. Let’s hope that leads to the results required to elevate the offense.

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