He was hired Nov of 2022, that class was predominantly Chryst recruits and a handful of Fickell guys(Alliegro & Ashcraft). He's only had 2 classes that are truly his. Most of his 1st class are redshirt freshman this year and most of his 2nd class is redshirting currently
It’s still not an excuse to be a bottom feeder. I mean come on with this defense
Its not an excuse. The defense is awful, losing Lucas & Fourqurean plus Zachman being out killed the secondary. My only point is we haven't seen what Fickell's recruits can do since they are all really young still. None of that excuses their performance today
I’m not sure I trust Fickell developing those recruits. That was my point.
Thats fair although I don't think we actually know that yet. He had a lot of success developing guys at Cincinnati and hasn't really had that chance yet here. If Wisconsin fires Fickell I think we're starting this whole process over and likely looking at a 3-4 year rebuild at minimum
How much can you count on development in the NIL and portal age, though?
All good teams still recruit and develop. They use the portal to fill holes, not build the whole plane
For sure. Unfortunately, he’s not doing that, either. So if long term development as your selling point isn’t a viable strategy, and you’re not using the portal effectively, we end up losing 27-3 at home to Maryland :/
We don't know how his high school recruits will do. He's only had 2 recruiting classes to this point and they've barely had a chance to play to this point.
I will agree with you partially there but man i just don’t like the vibes of this team. Teams that are in it together usually have a bit more fight in them. And still no identity, well one.. losing
I don't disagree, which is why I don't blame anyone who is on the fire Fickell bandwagon. But I do think for Wisconsin to be successful they need to be able recruit & develop. If we go with a new coach I'm hoping we give them patience regardless of results, so he can develop his own guys
Yeah :( My other team is Louisville. Brohm got there same season Fickell came to Madison. It’s been night and day. And I know the conferences are v different, but Lou is recruiting in SEC territory with similar (I imagine NIL budget), and they’ve been nothing but fun.