Luke Fickell will be back to coach college football at Wisconsin next season. Perhaps he will spend more time with local high school football coaches within the state over the next 12-18 months.
They put him on blast for a severe lack of in-state recruiting.
Although it is not necessary to recruit your own state in the modern era of college football, this approach presents a stark contrast to the previous staff. And it’s not like the Badgers are winning…
Luke Fickell is not fired.
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh announced earlier this week that there will not be a change of leadership before the end of this current college football season. He also announced that the current head coach will still be the head coach in 2026 despite increasing (and loud) calls for him to be fired.
Fickell is returning — no matter what!
However, the Badgers need to win out against Washington, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota to make a bowl game. It will be the first time they do not make a bowl game in back-to-back seasons since the early 1990s if they can’t pull off a miracle over their next four games, which they won’t.
Even though most people put Fickell’s 14-19 record at Wisconsin on Fickell, McIntosh gave him a vote of confidence and promised to give him increased access to resources. In other words, more money.
Wisconsin high school football coaches don’t know him.
Although Luke Fickell has done a decent job of recruiting over the last few years, his 2026 class currently ranks 63rd. And most of the players in his system are from out of state.
The number of Wisconsin natives on the roster dropped from 48 to 35 from 2021 to 2025. He does not prioritize the state and it shows.
Zac Bellman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently spoke with 13 high school football coaches in the greater Milwaukee area under the guise of anonymity. 10 of the 13 coaches do not think Fickell and his staff made a proper effort with high school players and coaches in Wisconsin. Some of those coaches feel like the Badgers only pay attention to local talent after other major programs show interest.
Some of the most concerning responses are as follow:
- “We were his very first stop on his first day out as the new Badgers head coach. I haven’t seen him since that day.”
- “Little to no relationship.”
- “Never spoke with or met him.”
- “I don’t know if it’s much different. I think the messaging from the program has shifted … it does not seem that they are as invested in the players in the state or are pursuing them as eagerly as previous staffs.”
- “I could count on coaches in the past to check in every year whether we had a known recruit or not. I don’t think that’s happening now.”
- “Previous coaches actually recruited the area and made sure to come get the top Wisconsin recruits. Whereas, ever since Fickell took over, he prioritizes the out-of-state recruits and shows no love to the in-state guys. Then once those out-of-state guys commit elsewhere or decommit, he tries to come back to the Wisconsin kids last minute to get them to flip. He’ll give them a last-minute walk-on offer. I’d hate to be a high school kid in the state of Wisconsin right now. I feel for my athletes. There is only one DI school in the state and they don’t care about Wisconsin.”
- “The previous staffs made sure to connect with high schools in different ways, from subtle on up. It may seem minor, but if you qualified for the playoffs they would send a colorful flyer that had your school name on it and would wish good luck in the playoffs. That has stopped under this staff. Little things can go a long way.”
- “We have studs from Wisconsin starting elsewhere … Minnesota, Ohio State and Notre Dame to name a few. Paul (Chryst) would have locked these kids down to stay at home.”
- “I reached out and talked to their safety coach about our DI kid and there was little to no contact with him.”
- “I believe it’s a disservice that Wisconsin is losing out on DI talent like Lamont Hamilton, Brandon Walton, Michael Farr, Dominic Walters and many other talented athletes to programs outside of our state. With Wisconsin being the only DI school in the state, they need to keep our DI talent home. Such a sad situation.”
- “I feel a lot of DI players from Wisconsin are going elsewhere because it is not a priority to keep them in Wisconsin.”
Now, to be completely fair, not every response was negative. Some of the local coaches actually feel like Fickell has done a better job than his predecessor at recruiting their program but those seem to be the more “suburban schools” that typically have some decent players.
Regardless of what happens over the next four months with the conclusion of the regular season, opening of the transfer portal, and high school recruiting signing days, Luke Fickell is not going anywhere. Perhaps he will take a more local approach now that he is getting another year. Doubtful.