MADISON - Monday afternoon inside the Bornstein Media Center, athletic director Chris McIntosh kept coming back to a foundation that connected him and the 31st head football coach at Wisconsin, Luke Fickell.

When addressing the media for the first time, both referred to a championship level the program can reach.

“It became clear that we see the world in a very similar way and we see the potential in a program like ours in a very similar way," McIntosh, sitting alongside Fickell in front of local reporters, said. "We have the same expectations - championship level expectations."

The move for Wisconsin to steer in a different and fresh direction is one emblematic of a program going all in. The Badgers, under McIntosh and Fickell, are trying to take the next step and break through into the elite.

“It became evident that Luke and his experience and his belief system and his approach and his process, which was proven and does align with what we believe here, was the way I felt we should go," McIntosh further explained. "The way that I felt best positioned our program for continued success."

Any ability to position the program back atop the Big Ten West - or whatever the conference may look like in the near future - and contend for titles starts with recruiting. That commitment appears to have been part of the partnership put in place with Fickell.

“It required a commitment on my part, on behalf of the department and from my perspective, just a recognition that this program is important… we need to be operating at a championship level,” McIntosh said. “The most comforting aspect of the conversations I’ve had with Luke is about partnership, determining where are the areas in which we need to improve, both operationally within our program, and recruiting is one area.”

Explaining his philosophy in regards to the transfer portal, the newly-named head coach wasn’t shy to come down hard on that process as a way to build a roster. Fickell labeled himself a “high school recruiting guy” and someone who believes in the development of young student athletes.

The direction he’ll go to land recruits won’t be anything unfamiliar to the Wisconsin program. The state and the nearby recruiting areas will remain a focus for UW and the staff.

“They’ve had a great foundation,” Fickell said when asked what areas his staff would look to target. “For me, the uniqueness of being here - just like we were at the University of Cincinnati - is within a 300-mile radius, you can do the core and the crux of your program, and that’s what I love about this opportunity. Within the 300-mile radius, that will be the core of what we do.”

Part of the challenge left for Fickell and his staff will be forming that connection with high school coaches in the state and diving into the connection that Wisconsin with them.

With Fickell now in charge of guiding the ship, it’s no longer a useful exercise to compare him to Jim Leonhard, who held the interim title. But the understanding Leonhard has as someone from the state is important and will have to be built up by Fickell.

“Everyone says Wisconsin doesn’t have the top football talent in the nation or even the Midwest, but he’s (Leonhard) one of the guys who made it out of Wisconsin. "So as a guy from Wisconsin, that’s a guy you look up to,” freshman quarterback Myles Burkett, a Franklin native, said in a previous interview. “Maybe he doesn’t play the same position as me, maybe it was a long time ago, but still he’s a guy from here, he’s a guy who made it out, so he’s a guy I look up to, it means a lot.”

The necessity to learn more about the roots Wisconsin has when it comes to recruiting isn’t lost on Fickell. It may not come natural as an “outsider” and yet, will serve as just as much of a starting point for the Badgers as it has in the past.

“I have to learn a lot more about the 50-, 60-, 100-mile radius,” he said. “But I know as you get into Chicago and the areas you guys have done an unbelievable job in, there’s a lot of roots that have been built there, and I know that if we can capture that kind of like we did with that 300-mile radius where the core of the program is, then we can extend.

"We’ll look at the history of what’s been really good here and those pipelines and those kinds of things. People don’t realize how strong that is when you have a guy from an area or a couple guys from an area, there’s a connection that goes a long way.”

The similar connections that have been tapped into won’t change. In terms of connections from Cincinnati that Fickell will bring with him, the immediate hotbed that comes to mind is Ohio.

“We’ll use a lot of the connections that we had. I’m not saying that Ohio is the next place we’re going to go but there’s a lot of great connections, there’s a lot of great players that have been from Ohio as well,” Fickell said. "That’s why we’ll have a variety of guys that have backgrounds from different areas, but my job is to figure out what's been successful here and I’m still in that process. But I know that the 300-mile radius is an opportunity to make this program and this team a championship team.”

Monday night, Fickell planned to fly back to Cincinnati to bid farewell to his former program. He already noted that he’ll bring with him a pair of recruiting staffers - Pat Lambert and Max Stienecker - to get things underway. It’s been reported that Cincinnati strength coach Brady Collins is also headed to Madison. Fickell referred to the recruiting and strength units as the “two life-bloods” of a program.

While Wisconsin and the Big Ten invite greater opportunities in the recruiting world, UW’s football program has to deal with particularly stiff academic standards for its recruits.

“It does us no good to bring a guy into this program, whether he’s a great player or not, that can’t be successful within the parameters that they have to live by,” Fickell said. “We know that there’s an incredible academic institution and we have to make sure we bring in guys that can fit that standard.

“That doesn’t mean we got to take a guy that’s not quite as big, not quite as fast because there is an academic standard, but we all have to put them in positions where they can thrive and be successful.”

Fickell acknowledged the unique challenges in place when it comes to recruiting at Wisconsin. And yet, he made it known that it’s not necessarily a barrier.

“You have to dive in to know these guys a lot better and know what’s within and how they’re going to work to make sure you’re putting a guy in a situation where he not only fits your culture, but is willing to do the things that you expect him to do.

“For me, I’ll be honest with you and you’ll probably hear it every year at the beginning of the year: We have one objective, one goal, and that’s to play for a championship."

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