Luke Fickell admits he has not spoken with Wisconsin about his future

Questions surrounding Luke Fickell’s future as the head coach of Wisconsin continue amid the Badgers’ 2-5 start to the 2025 season. After Week 8’s shutout home loss against Ohio State, those questions aren’t going anywhere.

Fickell spoke to the media on Monday, where he answered whether or not Wisconsin’s leadership has spoken to him about his future with the program. He has a 15-18 record since taking over the Badgers’ program in 2023.

“No, I don’t think any of us have a crystal ball,” Fickell said. “I’ve never asked the question. It’s not something that I can dwell upon. It’s not something that … I can’t tell you that it’s not something that you don’t think about. I’m not saying that something, when you go home, your wife doesn’t look at you, but it doesn’t do us any good, right? 

It’s not going to change the fact that we got to practice tomorrow. It’s not going to change the fact of anything on Saturday. I guess you just let everybody else kind of deal with those things. But I have not been told. I’m not worried about that.”

Fickell said he understands that Wisconsin is currently not meeting expectations. When that’s the case, “anything can happen.”

Wisconsin is preparing for a Week 9 road trip to play No. 6 Oregon, and the Badgers are becoming dangerously close to losing out on bowl eligibility for the second straight season under Fickell.

Two more losses would keep Wisconsin away from the postseason. Last season’s 5-7 finish snapped a 22-season streak of bowl games for Wisconsin, which began during the 2002 season.

Despite this, Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh released a message in support of Fickell amid the football program’s ongoing struggles. Still, he said that he’s disappointed in the season so far and that it has “fallen well short of our standards.”

Still, Fickell isn’t sure what the future holds. For now, he’s trying to stay focused on the task at hand: Oregon.

“I think that there are so many things that are unknown of what that looks like as we continue to move forward, for me and for what it is that we’re doing,” Fickell said. “I mean, how can you focus past anything but what Saturday brings.”

Kickoff between the Badgers and Ducks is set for 7 p.m. ET and will air live on FS. Wisconsin will have four games left in their regular season schedule