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If you didn’t hear the news that came out yesterday, University of Wisconsin Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh said that Luke Fickell will return as the head football coach in 2026.
I’ve really needed to take a step back from posting anything – whether it be on here or social media – for the past roughly 24 hours since the news broke.
I’m sick with the news.
Chris McIntosh fired Paul Chryst for averaging 10.1 wins per season in a full 12+ game season (2020 Covid & 2022 when he was fired mid-season excluded) because we are “playing for championships.” Now he’s retaining Luke Fickell for (probably) winning two games and having a 15-19 (.441) record (8-15 Big Ten Record) in Madison because now McIntosh is “no longer counting wins and losses” under Fickell.
You have to be a complete moron to believe this program’s sole issue is NIL funding – yes, I am looking at our awful Athletic Director. NIL has absolutely nothing to do with improvement and development, player evaluation, or even simply being competitive.
McIntosh has moved from “playing for championships” to “more things matter than wins and losses.”
I can support a struggling team as long as it is getting better and there is a path to hope down the road. But that is simply something that this program is not doing under Luke Fickell.
I used to have season tickets, but Chris McIntosh found a way to change that when he abruptly fired Paul Chryst in 2022. I cannot support being treated like we are idiots. While I realize that the University of Wisconsin may not care at all about tickets in the world of TV money, but that’s all I have.
This program is a disaster and is in hell right now.
Bringing Fickell back for 2026 is a slap in the face and a big “fuck you” to all of the Wisconsin alumni, students and fans.
I hope McIntosh enjoys an empty Camp Randall Stadium similar to the Don Morton days next year.
The only positive about the McIntosh interview that was released yesterday is that it firmly ties Fickell and McIntosh together, so in all likelihood when one goes, the other has to follow.
It’s as low as it can possibly get right now. The University of Wisconsin has to clean house from the football staff to the athletic director. To quote Big Cat Dan Katz, UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin is an anti-football pussy and she can go too.