Luke Fickell details decision to add Jack Del Rio to Badgers coaching staff

Del Rio will be a special advisor on Wisconsin's staff this season.

Aug 13, 2022; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio stands on the field during warmups prior to the Commanders' game against the Carolina Panthers at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / geoff burke-usa today sports

Longtime NFL coaching veteran Jack Del Rio joined Wisconsin's staff as a special advisor to head coach Luke Fickell last week. Fickell was able to talk to the media for the first time since officially bringing him in and he raved about the former player-turned-coach.

"There was a lot of different things I was looking for and I didn't find somebody," Fickell said. "So it wasn't like we were just going to do it and then in camp, Jack came to visit and spend two and half days with us and it was one of those things that was actually pretty unique. He was actually open to doing something."

Del Rio comes to Madison with nearly 25 years of coaching experience in the NFL. He was notably the head coach of the Jaguars from 2003-11 and the head coach of the Raiders from 2015-17. He was most recently the defensive coordinator of the Commanders from 2020-23.

He has never coached at the college level, but with the ever-changing landscape of the sport, Fickell thinks their unique relationship can be a help to the Badgers' program.

"As the summer hit I was looking. I think it's a unique thing, I think it only works if you have some sort of relationship to me," Fickell said. "Just to have people be around, I don't know what that really does. I had some ideas going into the summer, some good friends of mine that maybe were out [of coaching]... it would be nice to have somebody come in and have a little bit different of a role."

Del Rio has known Fickell dating back to his time as an assistant strength coach with the New Orleans Saints in 1997. Fickell was trying to make the team as a player and he worked closely with Del Rio in his journey.

Heading into his second year as head coach at Wisconsin, Fickell made a handful of changes to the coaching staff this offseason. Adding Del Rio was seemingly the last big move, and he can bring a different perspective as Fickell continues to truly make the program his own.

"Really uniquely to help us with some things, offensively, defensively a different eye, a different view," Fickell said. "In this evolving world of what we're going to go into next year when it comes to this revenue sharing stuff too. Somebody that can give us some insight on the experience of what the NFL is like in some of those ways."

A special advisor to a head coach, Del Rio will likely have very little impact on a program's on-field success, but adding Del Rio to the staff is more evidence that Fickell is taking a unique approach to taking Wisconsin into the new age of college football.