Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell will return to lead the Badgers in 2026, athletic director Chris McIntosh announced on Thursday.
With the Badgers 2-6 overall and winless in Big Ten play, McIntosh is informing the Wisconsin team on Thursday that Fickell will return as head coach next year. The return will come with changes, which include increased investment in the roster and program, along with an ongoing analysis of every facet of the program.
«Chancellor [Jennifer] Mnookin and I are aligned on significantly elevating investment in our program to compete at highest level,» McIntosh told ESPN. «We are willing to make an investment in infrastructure and staff. As important is our ability to retain and recruit players in a revenue share and NIL era.»
Washington on Saturday afternoon and finish the year at No. 2 Indiana, home against Illinois and at Minnesota. The 37-0 loss to Iowa at home earlier in the year marked the program’s first home shutout since 1980.
Fickell’s tenure — and this season in particular — has been hallmarked by major injuries at quarterback. This season’s starting quarterback, Billy Edwards, got injured early in the season opener and hasn’t contributed significantly since.
Overall, the quarterback health can be summed up by Fickell’s team having the intended first-string quarterback play the entire game in just 11 of 34 games. The Badgers have endured consistent injury issues this year, including being down eight projected starters at Oregon.
That has left Wisconsin playing backup Danny O’Neil and third-stringer Hunter Simmons, and the Badgers have the No. 17 passing offense in the 18-team Big Ten (only Iowa is worse.) That lineup has gone up against a schedule with four teams ranked in the top 10 and seven of the top 25 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
Cincinnati. That included leading the Bearcats to the four-team College Football Playoff in 2021, the first team from outside a power conference to reach the College Football Playoff.
Fickell also brought extensive Big Ten experience, as he had spent 15 years coaching at Ohio State. That included a stint as interim coach in 2011 and his work as co-defensive coordinator on Ohio State’s 2014 national title team.
He’ll get a chance to reset the trajectory at Wisconsin in 2026.
«We all acknowledge this is short of expectations,» McIntosh said. «We have identified the ways in which we need to be successful, and we have a plan to be successful. We are executing that plan.»
