Joel Klatt expresses excitement to see Luke Fickell rebuild Wisconsin

Luke Fickell is in charge of remaking Wisconsin into a contender in the Big Ten and nationally. Based on how he’ll likely do it, FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt is all in on it and says he is exactly what the Badgers needed.

Klatt spoke about Fickell’s job and fit in Madison during an episode of his show on Monday. He started by admitting that the complete overhaul of what that program has done in their recent history made him a little nervous about what the start of his tenure would be.

“What he’s going to do at Wisconsin, or going to try to do, is pretty large scale,” said Klatt.

“I’ll be honest about the Wisconsin one: I’ve been through a range of emotions this summer in terms of my analysis of the way I feel about Wisconsin,” Klatt said. “That identity, that DNA? They played a similar fashion, regardless of who the coach was. This feels like a departure from that. These systems are going to be brand new, these systems are not in the same vein of the way that they have had success over the course of the past decade or two.”

However, Klatt realized that this change was necessary. It might be different and an adjustment for the Badgers and their fanbase but, considering their recent trajectory in their conference and across the country, they had hit a wall that they might now be able to breakthrough with this reimagining of who they are

“Why is Luke Fickell there? And what do they have to rebuild from? Well, let’s walk through it for a moment. Since reaching the Rose Bowl in 2019? They’ve actually finished outside of the Top-25 in each of the last three seasons. Three straight seasons finishing outside of the Top-50 in scoring offense. It wasn’t working, okay? Even though they were competitive and tough, it wasn’t working,” Klatt explained. “They weren’t playing to the same level that I was discussing that they had been built on. You can also make an argument that they had hit a bit of a ceiling (in the Big Ten).”

“Now it’s a different picture. It’s not just an identity that had been successful. It’s an identity and a DNA that had maybe taken a step back,” said Klatt. “Why do you have to rebuild at Wisconsin? Because a rebuild is needed.”

Now, based on their changes this offseason, specifically on offense, Klatt believes Fickell is already well on his way to getting Wisconsin back into the winning conversation.

“Luke Fickell has got to change that. They’ve got to get better on defense, more athletic and faster on defense against the best teams, particularly in their own conference. They’ve got to have an offense that can finish in the Top-50,” said Klatt. “That’s why they have changed everything, that’s why this is such an interesting rebuild for Luke Fickell and Wisconsin. They’ve got a new quarterback, they’ve got a new philosophy, they’ve got a new offensive coordinator.”

In the end, Klatt sees this as a great pairing between coach and program. With the combined confidence in both of their resumes, he says Fickell could bring truly significant football back to Camp Randall sooner rather than later.

“Here he is, a guy that we all believe in, Luke Fickell, trying to rebuild what we all think is a preeminent power, if you will, in college football,” Klatt said. “It hadn’t been that in the last few years and he’s trying to reestablish that moving forward.”