My spouse has been somewhat negligent on doing something to give me blog material, but she occasionally makes suggestions One suggestion she had last week involved an editorial cartoon in the Wisconsin State Journal with an eleven point buck talking to Wisconsin football head coach, Luke Fickell. The issue of football is larger than Luke Fickell and the deer in the bar. With the changes in college football there is an open season on coaches.
On Saturday December 6, 2025 Indiana University defeated perennial power house THE Ohio State University in the Big Ten Championship game. OSU was ranked #1 in the nation and is the defending national champion, while Indiana was ranked #2. It was a close game, decided by a field goal. Curt Cignetti, the Indiana coach was hired in 2023 and has coached the Hoosiers for only two years. Until his arrival, the program had been mediocre at best having only three winning seasons in the past twenty years--7-6 in 2007; 8-5 in 2029 and 6-2 in 2020 (Covid). Cignetti was hired by Indiana from James Madison, a rather nondescript school. So far this year he is 13-0. Play will continue for the Hoosiers in the National Championship tournament which will have 12 teams, they are a #1 seed with a first round bye.
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| From WI State Journal, 3 Dec 2025 |
I am sure when Wisconsin's then new AD Chris McIntosh hired Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati, he had dreams of being where Indiana is today. Fickell had Cincinnati as a four seed for the National Championship in 2021, when the team undefeated until the playoff game, ending the season at 13-1. He was 9-3 in his last season with the Bearcats, before being hired by the UW. He was considered by many to be a candidate for the Notre Dame job which opened up with Brian Kelly's departure for LSU at the end of the 2021 regular season. However, ND chose to go with Marcus Freeman, its then young defensive coordinator.
Many top tier coaching jobs opened during the season, Penn State, UCLA, LSU, among others. ESPN talking heads viewed the LSU job as the premier coaching position in the nation. While the talking heads were complaining about Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss leaving for LSU, and how he hung Ole Miss out to dry for the upcoming playoffs, they were dissing Penn State for what they thought was too long of a search. The Penn State search ended this past week by their hire of Dan Campbell from Iowa State. Penn State had been spurned by at least one candidate, if not more. The talking heads felt that Penn State viewed their head coach position as more important than it actually is, they placed it fifth among teams in the Big Ten after Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and USC.
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| Luke Fickell He had a lot of sad expressions this season |
When WI started the season with middling wins against two middling teams (Middle Tennessee State as one) followed by six consecutive losses, many were calling for Luke's head. The UW has stuck with him for another year, perhaps because of the large buyout clause in effect. As one former head coach, Urban Meyer, said, WI lacks the money for that large of a buyout. The contract was on McIntosh, who if they fire Fickell this coming season should also be fired. I think that McIntosh firing Luke Fickell would be an admittance that he failed in his first major hire as UW AD.
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| Chris McIntosh (2024) UW Athletic Director |
The larger issue is the change in college athletics over the past few years--Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), have colleges paying players. For example, it is rumored that THE Ohio State paid over $20 million for certain players last season, when they won the National Foot ball College Championship. With NFL first contract players not earning as much as veterans, by the fact that veterans negotiate the collective bargaining agreement, some may make more in college ball than first years of the NFL. College programs now have people that all they do is look for free agent transfers. It used to be an athlete sat out a year, but no more. Programs can now bid, that is pay, for their services. Yet, football games are still won and lost on the field.
We don't know what will happen at the UW next season, they did end the season with a loss to Minnesota, but at home near the end of the season beat two ranked teams Washington and Illinois, with a loss to Indiana sandwiched between. They played Oregon well, as they did last year, but are not able to compete with top 10 teams a full four quarters.
The game of football has changed a great deal from when my dad played at Marquette, which included playing in the first Cotton Bowl. When the Marquette team traveled to Dallas, it was by train, and no practice field was provided down in Texas, or on the way down, for them, but they were fortunate to find a farmer who had a pasture in which they could practice. Yet, one thing seldom talked about is how the game is played, and certain fundamentals make or break the play. Some men are so good they rely on their athleticism, but will tackle or block poorly. My brother Steve, who coached high school ball for many years said that the best fundamentals he learned were from my Dad who played, and learned football at Campion and Marquette in the 1930's. That is a testament to the way football was played.
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| 1936 Marquette Football Team, played in 1937 Cotton Bowl My dad is front row, fourth from left |
The best coaches, in my mind are those that take the three and some four star recruits and make them compete with the teams with higher ranked recruits. The success of Alabama was not so much Nick Saban, as perhaps all the five star recruits he was able to get. Curt Cignetti is likely the best coach in college football right now haven taken a low level Indiana team to one of the best teams in the nation in a short time span. What I do know is that the changes in college football have made it open season on coaches, perhaps more than bucks.
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