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Luke Fickell discusses what a successful first season as Wisconsin head coach would look like
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Luke Fickell takes the field for the first time as Wisconsin head coach as the Badgers host Buffalo at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.
Fickell will be tasked with breathing life into a Badgers program that hasn’t been able to make the leap to the next level over the past few seasons. It’s had records of 4-3, 9-4, and 7-6 heading into 2023, with Paul Chryst fired five games into the 2022 season after a 2-3 start.
Fans are hoping Fickell can have the same success in Madison as he did with Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to 53 wins in five seasons after a 4-8 mark in 2017 — his first with the team — and a historic College Football Playoff berth in 2021, the first for a non-Power 5 program.
So what would constitute a successful first year at the helm of the Badgers?
“Playing our best ball at the end of the year. I know that’s pretty vague, and that’s a way of not answering the question in a lot of ways, but it is,” Fickell said on Monday. “If we’re consistent, if we continue to grow, we’re playing our best ball at the end of the year, I think we’ll have everything in front of us. We’ll have an opportunity in those last three or four weeks to put ourselves at a chance to play for a championship, and that’s what it comes down to.”
Kickoff between the Badgers and the Bulls is set for 3:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1.