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Luke Fickell on whether he can turn around Wisconsin: ‘Not going to be an easy fix’

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison6 hours agodan_morrison96
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
© Ross Harried-Imagn Images

The situation in Madison is getting dire. Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell knows that too, and it’s left him searching for answers.

On Saturday, Wisconsin lost 37-0 to Iowa, falling to just 2-4 on the season in the process. Now, Fickell is looking inward on how to fix the program, and he’d admit in his postgame press conference that it’s not going to be an easy fix.

“There is no such thing as an easy fix, I guess,” Luke Fickell said. “Right? I don’t know. This is not going to be an easy fix. Pound the rock is the idea — something has to break at some point in time. And I’m not gonna say I thought tonight was an opportunity for that, but every night, every Saturday, is an opportunity for that, and it did not happen today. It did not happen tonight.”

The Badgers got dominated in their loss on Saturday. Wisconsin gained just 3.7 yards per play. That included just 82 passing yards for the game. They would also be a -2 in the turnover battle, turning the ball over three times total.

“And this was one that kind of metaphorically pound the rock, be physical, be tough, do those things, and see some, see some things change and happen. Again, from the start, it put us in a really tough position. Not that you can go back and change it, but I’d hope and believe that had that not started the way it did with the turnovers,” Fickell said.

“At least, it would have been a hell of a lot different game. I’m not saying that they’re not a better team than we are. I’m not saying we’re a better team than they are. Just, it’s not fair that we weren’t able to, at least, you know, put ourselves in a position where we can make it a damn football game. When you have the mistakes that you have the first seven minutes of the game, we are not a type of team that can come back from that right now. That’s all I’ve got.”

Now sitting at 2-4 at the halfway point in the season, Luke Fickell and the Badgers are going to need to turn things around quickly to go to a bowl. However, there’s no chance to rest against a very difficult schedule, as they host Ohio State next week.

Luke Fickell on if he can be the one to turn around Wisconsin

Luke Fickell is now in his third full season at Wisconsin, after coming over from Cincinnati, where he had taken the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff. Despite that history of success, there are now legitimate questions if he’s the one to take on the challenge of rebuilding Wisconsin.

“There’s nothing I can say out here publicly that is any different,” Fickell said. “What matters is what’s said in that room. And I don’t fault you for asking. I don’t think people should think anything different. But the truth of the matter is, is this, this is not an easy fix, and we’ve got a hell of a long way to go. There’s only one way to go, and it’s through it, and it’s to go up.”

Fickell inherited a Wisconsin team that went 7-6 in 2022. In the time since then, he’s gone 15-17 with the Badgers. That included missing a bowl game last season. Now, after losing four straight games, all by double digits, it appears the program is still facing a massive uphill rebuild.

“I know this, that I’ve never been in this position, but I’ve grown up in a way that, you know, I refer back to wrestling, like I have in the past. But, you get some ass whoopings, and at some point in time, you figure out whether this is you’re tired of it, sick of it, or you’re not. And that’s where we are as a program, as a team,” Fickell said.

“And we either figure out that we’re tired of it and find a way to make sure we’re going to be able to fight back, because that’s what I’m going to do, whether it’s not good enough, whether it’s not enough, that’s for somebody else to make a decision on. I know this. I told those guys in that locker room that you’re not going to get any different from me. You’re going to get more from me. If that’s not what you want, then this is not going to be a place that you’re going to be able to handle. And I’m not saying I’m going to lose my mind and start screaming, but the ability to say,’ Hey, if you don’t compete, if we don’t compete, none of us are going to be here.’ And that’s — there’s nothing wrong. That’s the truth.”

For his part, Luke Fickell knows he can only control what he can control. So, he’s going to continue to battle to make sure that he gives everything he can to get things corrected there.

“But by all the other noises outside, there’s nothing else I can do. I can make sure that every single day that my ass is going to fight,” Fickell said. “Those guys going to see a fight. They’re either going to follow or it’s going to get really thin, really quick.”