Energy of new Wisconsin coaching staff standing out to the players
MADISON, Wis. -- First year head coach Luke Fickell was stumped when he met a fellow Wisconsin coach for the first time. She asked him, so what is your thing? Who are you guys is how Fickell recalled the conversation.
"What kind of question is that?" Fickell went on, retelling the story to local reporters at the spring football media day Monday morning.
As Fickell figured out that what she meant pertained to the top traits and values, he went on to describe the unit as "high energy group and team in everything we do."
"That whole mantra of how you do one thing is how you do everything is the way we live," Fickell said. "If you don't have energy, if you don't have passion for what you're doing, then it's not worth doing. There is no such thing as laid back. I tell some of the guys and some of the recruits when I first meet them that if you want a laid back coach and want to chill at times, that's not me. This is probably not the place for you because there is no chill in me.
"If you ask us who we are, we are a high energy, passionate group no matter what it is that we're doing."
That messaging and energy starts at the top with Fickell and is amplified with the director of strength and conditioning, Brady Collins, who just got done leading the team through eight weeks of winter workouts.
Fickell joked that he lived with Collins and his group of assistants for the first two weeks before eventually needing to move out.
"When I go home - it's not necessarily to chill but I want to go to bed. I want to be able to recharge," Fickell said. "I am not 34 or 35 years old to be able to hang with those guys after 10 o'clock, so that's who they are, that's what they are."
Inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta, who just wrapped up his fourth season with the program, was part of a lengthy list of defenders who didn't necessarily embrace the coaching change at first, specifically with the news that Jim Leonhard was being passed over.
"First hearing the news I think it was rocky for a lot of the guys, but part of the development has just been realizing, hey, these coaches have a lot to offer us and we have a lot to offer them and this can be a symbiotic relationship," Njongmeta said. "They are not here to take, they are here to give, and I think once a lot of people realized that I think we all got on the same page. Spring ball is another opportunity to solidify behind that message."
Part of the early success for the new staff was doing well in their effort to retain players. Quarterback Graham Mertz, who had a rocky stint at UW, was the lone player in the two-deep to transfer to another program.
At the top of the list of the top internal recruiting wins was getting sophomore running back Braelon Allen to stay on board. Allen described the decision as one that wasn't difficult once he got to know and sit down with Fickell.
Fickell elected to turn to 27-year old Devon Spalding, who was previously on Cincinnati's staff with Fickell as a graduate assistant, to guide the room of running backs. Spalding had spent the previous three seasons in the same capacity at Youngstown State and played running back and wide receiver at Central Michigan from 2014-18.
"Coach Spalding has been great, definitely high energy," Allen said. "He just wants the best for us and he's done a great job with helping us learning the offense. It's kind of refreshing to have somebody that's played the position and can kind of coach us from that perspective, and he's done a great job so far. We all like him."
On the other end of the spectrum is offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr., who has been coaching since 1986 with 11 different stops along the way. That includes four different NFL teams and seven collegiate programs.
"He's a guy that's been around," fourth-year player Tanor Bortolini said of his position coach. "He coached in the NFL and has been around college football for a long time, so he's experienced and knows what he's talking about. Having that around is great because he knows what it takes to play at the highest level because, obviously, he's seen what it takes. He's here to help us as much as possible and I'm really grateful for that."
Spalding, along with tight ends coach Nate Letton (29 years old), and defensive line coach Greg Scruggs (32), represent a balance that Fickell has struck with his staff. Along with those three, the group includes offensive coordinator Phil Longo, outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell, cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes and Bicknell Jr., all of whom have a combined 115 years of coaching experience amongst the four.
"I think it's got a great amount of balance," Mitchell said of the staff Fickell put together. "Some veteran coaches, which obviously I'm biased because I'm one of those guys, but we've seen a lot when it comes to recruiting and all that stuff. But at the same time the youth is important, too. I think there is balance, too, in terms of several coaches that have worked with Coach Fickell at Cincinnati that know the culture and the standards and expectations and also brought in some different people on staff.
"There is quite a bit of diversity on the coaching staff and diversity in a lot of different areas, and I think that diversity is good because it allows you to relate to players with a lot of different experiences. I think he's done a great job of assembling just a very diverse coaching staff."
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