Luke Fickell: I don't want to be a transfer program

Luke Fickell is ready to hit the ground running with the Badgers. After taking Wisconsin’s job on Sunday, he has already arrived in Madison with plans of how he’ll field his team. However, he made it fairly clear early that the transfer portal will not be one of his focuses when it comes to roster construction.

Fickell shared his thoughts and philosophies on the portal during his introductory press conference in Madison on Monday. He said it’s not how he did things at his previous job. Now, at his new one, it’s something he’d only consider if it would be a welcome fit for the program.

“We did not want to be a transfer team (at Cincinnati). I do not want to be a transfer team. I’m a high school recruiting guy that says it’s about development of young men,” Fickell said. “We had a matrix for transfers. We’ve had a matrix to say they’ve got to his these points, these situations, and these things because the last thing I want to do is a bring a guy into our program that’s going to mess with the culture, that’s going to mess with the environment, that’s going to mess with the relationships inside a lot of those rooms.”

With college football’s build looking more and more like pro sports, the portal is essentially free agency. That’s why it’s been such an effective method for coaches who, for whatever circumstances, need to add players quickly. A coaching change like Fickell’s hiring at Wisconsin could be one of those circumstances depending on the decisions of his new players over the next few weeks.

Still, Fickell’s focus in recruiting will be on the high school game in order to bring in top prospects. It just gives him a certain level of comfort because he knows where they come from from the very start. It’s nothing against the portal but, unless it just makes sense for them, he wants to center his new program’s attention on the high school ranks.

“More than anything, it’s got to be a right fit. And it’s got to be the right people,” said Fickell. “The thing about transfers is sometimes you don’t know. You don’t have the opportunity like you’ve had in high school to get to know them, to be in their home, to build some relationships, and know when they walk in the door that they’ve got four or five years to grow and develop into what it is that you want.”

“I’ve never been a proponent of the transfer portal. But, I think we have used it and would use it only in ways to fill gaps.”