Luke Fickell, Wisconsin to hire longtime NFL coach Jack Del Rio as senior advisor to head coach

The Wisconsin Badgers have hired longtime NFL head coach Jack Del Rio, per On3’s Pete Nakos.

Del Rio will serve as a senior advisor to head coach Luke Fickell. He will also be working to assist on both sides of the ball.

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As an NFL coach, Jack Del Rio has plenty of experience. He was a head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Raiders. He also has stints as a defensive coordinator with the Washington Commanders, Denver Broncos, and Carolina Panthers.

Now 61 years old, there is very little that Del Rio hasn’t seen in football. However, this is going to be his first stint coaching in the college game. The last time He was involved in college football goes back to 1984 when he was a linebacker at USC. In 2014, he would be selected to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame after having a career that saw him become an All-American and co-MVP of the Rose Bowl.

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With conference realignment, USC is now in the Big Ten alongside Wisconsin. The two are even set to play this season when the Badgers travel to Los Angeles in September. That will, actually, be USC’s first home game against a Big Ten opponent.

Jack Del Rio has an overall record of 93-94 as a head coach. That doesn’t include his playoff record. In three trips to the playoffs over 12 seasons, he has a 1-3 record. That includes two losses to the New England Patriots and one loss to the Houston Texans.

Luke Fickell is about to begin his second season as the head coach at Wisconsin. He has an 8-6 record to this point and is looking to take another step forward in 2024.

Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Fickell found plenty of success as the head coach at Cincinnati. There, he rebuilt the program after the poor end of the Tommy Tuberville era. In six years he rebuilt the program, won the AAC twice, and took the Bearcats to a four-team College Football Playoff as a Group of Five program. So, he has a proven record of success as a head coach.

This hire comes just a day before the 2024 season begins for Wisconsin. The Badgers will open up the season with a home game on Friday, August 30th against Western Michigan.