Luke Fickell reveals the key to Cincinnati-like jump in Year 2 at Wisconsin

In Luke Fickell’s first year at Cincinnati in 2017, the team finished the season with a 4-8 record. Only one year later, Fickell turned the program around, guiding the Bearcats to an 11-2 overall record and a win over Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl.

Fickell gained notoriety as the program continued to ascend to the top of college football, eventually reaching the College Football Playoff in 2021. Following the 2022 campaign, Fickell left Cincinnati in search of a new challenge at Wisconsin.

In his first full season with the Badgers last year, Fickell boosted Wisconsin to a 7-6 record and 5-4 mark in conference play. In a conversation with On3’s Andy Staples, Fickell addressed if he can replicate the leap he took with Cincinnati in Year 2 at Wisconsin.

“I would love to say you’re gonna have that kind of transition. But, things got to kind of fall in line. And, for us there, they really did,” Fickell said. “We had some key players, whether they were great players as young guys or they were great culture guys, they were great guys that helped us build the things that we wanted to be able to do on a daily basis.

“There’s a lot of things that have to go on as you develop and work, and kind of formulate some cultural changes that you have to have a lot of buy in. There’s there’s some specific things that happened in that Year 1 to Year 2 in Cincinnati that gave us that opportunity.”

As Fickell mentioned, his 2018 recruiting class at Cincinnati was pivotal in the program’s eventual success. Wisconsin had the No. 22 class in the 2024 recruiting cycle, highlighted by eight four-star prospects. Altogether, the class included 23 players.

Of course, the transfer portal also presents Fickell with another source of talent he did not have in his second year at UC. The 50-year-old head coach has not hesitated to take advantage of the portal this offseason, adding 14 players, earning the No. 14 spot in On3’s transfer Portal Team Rankings.

Luke Fickell believes the fresh faces will help usher Wisconsin into a new era.

“Embracing the things that are different, I think are what what’s difficult, and it’s more difficult on the older guys. We kind of had an older team. We kind of had to have those older guys that had to have great years and had to buy in and I think when some of the adversity hit that’s where we ran into some issues.

“It’s not that it was bad before. It’s just when things are different — how you practice, the expectations you might have — It’s not easy on those guys.”