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Report: Luke Fickell among Top 25 highest-paid coaches in college football this season

The Wisconsin Badgers' lack of wins would be unacceptable regardless of how much the head coach is being paid, but Luke Fickell's high salary makes it that much more disappointing.
Lorin Cox|
Sep 6, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the second half against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Camp Randall Stadium.
Sep 6, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the second half against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Camp Randall Stadium. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers' lack of success during the Luke Fickell has been hard for the fan base to swallow.

Add in the reported details of Fickell's salary compared to the rest college football, and it make it that much more disappointing.

The Badgers' lack of wins would be unacceptable regardless of who the head coach is or how much he is being paid.

But USA Today published the list of the Top 25 salaries in the sport, and Fickell came in at No. 21 with $7.825 million this season.

It's important to note that USA Today couldn't secure the contract details of every head coach in college football, largely because contracts with private universities are hard to obtain.

But Fickell is still making more than the head coaches at big time programs like Florida (Billy Napier), Notre Dame (Marcus Freeman) and Texas A&M (Mike Elko).

Among Big Ten teams, the Badgers are spending the eighth most on their head coach.

Matt Rhule, James Franklin, Curt Cignetti and Bret Bielema are all within $1 million of Fickell's salary, according to the report. Jedd Fisch from Washington is right behind him at No. 22.

On one hand, it's a credit to the Wisconsin athletic department that they were willing to spend big to go out and land a highly coveted coach like Fickell was at the time.

The results have made that gamble all the more debilitating, with a nearly $27.5 million buyout lingering as the program's only exit strategy.

The Badgers' investment in Fickell was a long-term one, but the short-term results haven't been where they need to be.

If things don't start turning around quickly, the hot seat is only going to get warmer.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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