$27.4 Million Head Coach Predicted to be Fired Amid Disappointing Tenure

The Wisconsin Badgers finished 4–8 overall and 2–7 in Big Ten play in 2025, marking the program’s worst record under current head coach Luke Fickell and the end of a long run of relative competitiveness.

The season included several concerning losses, most notably a 37–0 home blowout to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Oct. 11 and a 34–0 shutout against the Ohio State Buckeyes, both at Camp Randall Stadium.

Those defeats were part of a six-game skid in which the Badgers also fell 38–14 at Alabama Crimson Tide, 27–10 vs. Maryland Terrapins, 24–10 at Michigan Wolverines, and 21–7 at Oregon Ducks.

As a team, Wisconsin averaged just 253.1 total yards and 12.8 points per game, both ranking near the bottom of the FBS, underscoring persistent offensive inefficiency and depth concerns.

The regression was particularly jarring given preseason expectations. Wisconsin reached a bowl game in Fickell’s first season (7–6 in 2023) and entered 2025 projected to stabilize after a transitional 2024 campaign. Instead, the 4–8 finish raised legitimate questions about the program’s trajectory and whether Fickell can engineer a turnaround.

That uncertainty intensified Monday when USA TODAY’s Blake Toppmeyer listed Fickell among five college football coaches entering 2026 on the hot seat, arguing that Wisconsin’s 2025 performance has the look of a lame-duck scenario unless immediate improvement follows.

"Wisconsin should not be 37 points worse than Iowa. Seventeen points worse than Maryland. Ten points worse than Minnesota," Toppmeyer wrote. "When Wisconsin kept Fickell after a 4-8 record in his third season, the worst year of his tenure, it played the poor card and said it hadn’t properly supported Fickell with enough financial resources. Evidently, it thought that sounded better than, 'We’re keeping him to fire him next season, when his buyout is cheaper.'"

"This whole situation reeks of Fickell being a lame duck. Nothing about Wisconsin’s latest transfer haul or its recruiting class suggests anything resembling momentum. Prep the buyout cannon."

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell. — Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell reacts in the second half at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Fickell rose to national prominence at the University of Cincinnati, where he served as head coach from 2017 to 2022 and led the Bearcats to a 13–1 season and a berth in the 2021 College Football Playoff, earning multiple national Coach of the Year honors in the process.

He was hired by the Wisconsin Badgers on Nov. 27, 2022, yet through three seasons in Madison, he has yet to produce a double-digit win campaign.

Fickell’s initial Wisconsin contract was a seven-year deal valued at approximately $7.8 million annually, with a reported remaining buyout of roughly $27.4 million, one of the largest figures among Power Four programs.

In response to the 2025 regression, Wisconsin aggressively attacked the transfer portal ahead of 2026, adding 33 newcomers. Notable offensive additions include running back Abu Sama III (Iowa State), wide receiver Shamar Rigby (Oklahoma State), and quarterback Colton Joseph (Old Dominion).

Whether that influx of experience is enough to shift the program’s trajectory in 2026 remains one of the defining questions surrounding Fickell’s future.

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