Luke Fickell Gets Honest About Wisconsin's Outlook, Better Hope He's Correct
Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell feels more comfortable about where his team is now than he did last year.
The Badgers coach is now in his second season with the team after leaving Cincy to take the job in Madison following Paul Chryst being fired.
Season one was a massive disappointment. No way around it. However, after a very positive spring, it sounds like the Badgers head coach is ready to turn the corner.
"I really feel good about where we are. … It was a very competitive spring and we got a lot better in a lot of different ways," Fickell said following the recent conclusion of spring practice, according to Mike Lucas.
He continued, "I feel much better about where we are just in the leadership and a lot of different things like that. A lot more is to be done and you’ll find out a lot more when September comes…I really do — deep down inside — just think the nature of what we’ve got inside that locker room is in a better place than we were last year. I thought we were in a good place last year. But there were a lot of unknowns. At least we found out a lot of those unknowns with some of the adverse things that we went through. And it’s going to pay off in the long run for us."
Luke Fickell is happy with where the Badgers are going into the upcoming season. (Credit: Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Luke Fickell Is Optimistic About Upcoming Season
For Fickell's sake, he better hope his assessment that the team is in a better place than it was last year turns out to be correct.
The Badgers had a very easy schedule last season, and somehow managed to finish an embarrassing 7-6. There were also clear problems with the tone of attitude of the team. It was beyond frustrating as a fan to see some of the poor body language on display at times. It was also very frustrating for Fickell.
He previously told The Athletic the following:
"Everyone’s disappointed when you lose. They weren’t pissed maybe in some ways. I don’t know why. That’s where it was like, it’s killing me. It’s eating at me. Maybe they did a really good job at not showing that. I think that sometimes, we’ve been kind of coached to not show our emotions. And that’s not the way I want to live. That’s not the way I want our team and our culture to be. I want guys to let each other know when they’re disappointed. Now, that doesn’t mean start arguing with each other. But there’s times when we’ve got to hold each other accountable and we have to, as leaders, create an expectation for the things that we do. As we got into it, when the adversity hit and things didn’t go our way, I don’t know that we were like an animal that got backed into the corner and was going to fight its way out. I’m not saying we accepted it. But it was just like, ‘Aw, s—, these things happen.’ So that’s why I think it made it difficult for me in some ways."
Translation: The players in the locker room simply didn't seem to care enough for Fickell's liking.
Will the Wisconsin Badgers improve in Luke Fickell's second year? (Credit: Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Wisconsin fans are willing to eat one bad season from Fickell. Things weren't ever going to turn around overnight, but patience is running out in Madison. Winning only seven games isn't going to fly, and while I'm definitely glad to hear he's happy with where the team is at, it's put up or shut up time in Madison. I can't wait to see how it unfolds, and there's a very early season test against Alabama. Buckle up for a wild time. Let me know your thoughts on the state of Wisconsin football at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.