Wisconsin Football Coaches Plan to ‘Shake the Culture Up’

Wisconsin Badgers head football coach Luke Fickell shared his intentions for the program following Friday’s spring ball practice in Madison.

Coming off his first year with the Badgers, Fickell discussed his plans to “shake the culture” of Wisconsin football — a line that should leave every Badgers fan fired up.

Wisconsin Football Coach Shares Vision for the Program

This time last year, expectations were high for the Wisconsin football team ahead of the 2023-24 season. However, the Badgers finished 7-6 following an injury-riddled, unpredictable year resulting in a hard-fought bowl game loss to LSU in January.

Looking back at the season from a relative point of view, the first chapter of the Fickell era was pretty darn solid. Nick Saban’s first season with Alabama produced an identical 7-6 record, Kirby Smart only finished with one more win in his first year at Georgia, and Steve Sarkisian opened his career as a Longhorn with a brutal 5-7 record in Texas. Now that year one is in the books, it’s time for Coach Fick to elevate the program to an elite level — and given his notable victories in the recruiting department and competitive standards for the team, it seems he is well aware.

During his media availability on Friday, Fickell referred to college football as an “ever-changing” game, forcing him to constantly ensure that his staff and recruiting efforts are “going all in the right direction.” He later compared coaching to parenting, simply claiming that “you can’t sleep on it.”

In a follow-up question, Fickell was asked if anything from his first season with the program altered his approach to the offseason.

Fickell quickly announced his plans to “shake the culture up” by creating “more competitive situations and competitive spirit to make everybody a little bit on edge.” By adding a new quarterback and several fresh linebackers to the mix, Coach Fickell has already put his words into action. While he “didn’t want people to take it the wrong way,” he believes that adding more competition to each position group will only bring out the best in his players.

Luke Fickell is the ultimate proactive coach to have on your payroll in college football. He dissects dull points within the program and scrambles for ways to improve upon them — whether it’s tweaking his staff or reeling top-tier players from the ever-so-competitive transfer portal. Given that the coaching staff is far from set on their starting quarterback for the upcoming season, adding Tyler Van Dyke to an already capable QB room of Braedyn Locke, Nick Evers, and first-year Mabrey Mettauer should only motivate each player to strive toward their ceilings.

As of now, there are no certainties within the Wisconsin football program. A friendly dogfight will be required for each spot on the depth chart this offseason.

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