AD Chris McIntosh confident Luke Fickell is the 'right leader' for Wisconsin

McIntosh's support for Fickell has not wavered.

Wisconsin's new head football coach Luke Fickell, left is shown with athletic director Chris McIntosh at a welcome event November 28, 2022 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. He was previously head coach for six seasons at Cincinnati. / Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal

Wisconsin's Director of Athletics, Chris McIntosh, made a seismic decision when he opted to fire longtime head coach Paul Chryst midway through the 2022 season. Two years later, Mcintosh remains confident in the decision to hand the reins of the football program to Luke Fickell.

Chryst began his Wisconsin tenure leading the program to three straight 10+ win seasons. He then struggled, failing to win 10 games in all but one season from 2018 to 2021. He was fired after starting 2-3 in 2022.

“There is no getting around the realities of the decisions I’ve made and the accountability that I ultimately accepted for those,” McIntosh told Josh Temple of The Athletic. “That comes with the job. But that’s not how I think on a day-to-day basis.

Fickell, the Ohio State defensive coordinator, led the Bearcats to nine or more wins in five straight seasons and a College Football Playoff birth in 2021.

With Fickell's deep ties to Ohio State, the move seemed to come out of nowhere. Now 50 years old, he was viewed as one of the top head coaches in the sport and was simply waiting for a chance to prove it at a Power Five school.

After making big changes to the program's philosophy and bringing in pass-first offensive coordinator Phil Longo and SMU gunslinger transfer QB Tanner Mordecai, many people thought the turnaround could be quick in Madison. That was not the case after a 7-6 season in 2023.

"What motivates me is I think we have the right leader in our program. I think we’re building something special. I can see the progress we’re making," McIntosh said. "I have a great appreciation for the work that’s being put in, and I do think that the aggregate of all those things will pay off for Wisconsin football."

The Badgers had a busy offseason, deciding to add Miami (FL) transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and making some changes to the coaching staff on defense. They will have plenty of opportunities for big wins in the new-look, 18-team Big Ten, but also a lot of chances to slip up.

Wisconsin is currently on pace for its best recruiting class in program history and McIntosh seems to be fully confident that Fickell has the program trending in the right direction.