What we learned from Luke Fickell's introductory presser

MADISON - Wisconsin ushered in a new era of football on Sunday, announcing that former University of Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell was headed to Madison to coach the Badgers. On Monday afternoon, a welcome event was held in the Champions Club of the south end zone in Camp Randall Stadium. Fickell was greeted by players, boosters and media, and then made his way to Victory Hall for his introductory press conference.

Below, BadgerBlitz.com outlines the key takeaways from a monumental day for Wisconsin football.

Luke Fickell has spent a good portion of his professional career with the Ohio State Buckeyes, a team that constantly has high expectations. He then took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff, becoming the first coach to ever accomplish that feat with a Group of Five team. Fickell knows what it takes to build a program, so what does he envision constructing in Madison?

"There's one program at the end of the year where they want to be," Fickell said. "And they have a lot of work to do to repeat...we've got one objective and one goal, and it's to play for a championship. I said that when I started at Cincinnati, and that is open-ended but it gives you a lot of flexibility. You have an opportunity in this league, if you're playing for a championship, amazing things can happen."

It sounds like Fickell is talking about Big Ten championships here, especially with that last line. The "open-ended" comment is interesting — in just five years, the championships Fickell was seeking at Cincinnati evolved from AAC titles to the Bearcats being one game away from playing for a national title.

Money, resources, a chance to build a program to be in direct competition with his Alma Mater. Those obviously all played a part. But there wasn't one lightbulb moment for Fickell — his decision to venture deeper into the Midwest was a culmination of years of respect for Wisconsin, and a nagging urge to take that leap.

"Is there one straw? I don't know that there is...from afar, I've always had a great fondness for the program, the culture," Fickell said. "Timing has a lot to do with it, the changing world of what college is and what Wisconsin is willing to do. Maybe the final straw is a relationship, the relationship I'm gonna have with (Chris McIntosh)."

By hiring Fickell, Wisconsin football is showing a commitment to chasing excellence, and his comments reflect that. Fickell admitted he had some other job offers, but Wisconsin was the crème de la crème.

"We have certain things that we want for our family. We all get blinded by our profession and our job...the good fortunes that we've had in the last few years, to have some success on the field, has made (my family and I) kinda get together and sit down and say, 'okay, before things get hot, let's have a plan in place.' That way you're not grasping for straws anytime you have a win and somebody's interested in you. So for us, it had a lot to do with areas we felt like our family could thrive, could live, could stay for a long time and go to school, and really enjoy all the things about the community. Because I can live in a shoebox, I can stay in the facility 18, 19 hours a day and be around 18-22 year-olds."

Fickell is clearly a family-oriented man, as it sounds like one of the biggest factors in his decision. That's one of the characteristics that drew McIntosh to him in the first place, and one that has "Mac" elated for the future of the program.

The overwhelming sentiment from players on this team was that Jim Leonhard was their guy. That creates a somewhat awkward situation for a new head coach who needs to come in and win over the locker room while instilling his regime.

"You've gotta be yourself, you've gotta be authentic, you've gotta be real. I think the unique thing I've got is I was in the position (of interim head coach). I had a great relationship with a lot of guys just like Jim has. What we do understand is while young men are emotional, they're also resilient...I know that building a relationship is a big deal. It's not trying to take over someone else's relationship..."

There's no right answer to how to deal with a locker room full of young men who just lost their top choice for head coach. Fickell understands it's a delicate situation, and most importantly he really seems to embrace the human element in every scenario. For a leader of 90 or so college-aged young men, that's a vital trait to possess.

"Trust, respect and love. I know from visiting with these guys the last few hours that that's what that locker room is built on, and now they've got a new guy walking in who's completely different, and they don't know me. There's things that have to be done to build those bonds. They're not done overnight. They're done with authenticity, with repeated action over time."

McIntosh was asked how much consideration he gave Leonhard for the job, especially when the players were unconditionally supportive of him. McIntosh praised the job he did in an unbelievably difficult situation.

"Obviously, Jimmy first and foremost did an incredible job for the program. Stepped into a circumstance that was incredibly difficult, and overdelivered. There's been a lot spoken about wins and losses. I just want to be clear: that's not at all what it was about."

The process of finding a new head coach goes much deeper than just a few game results. While a detached observer might see wins and losses as the deciding factor, hiring a coach involves much deeper processes of vetting and decision-making.

"Just because of the process, and the timing, we had the ability to watch Jimmy on daily basis, and (we) obviously had a great base of knowledge on who he was and what he stood for. He's part of the DNA of this program. And so, we gave him strong consideration. Very strong consideration. But, as the process went along, and as we got more comfortable with what opportunities may exist in terms of leadership for the program, and as Luke and I spent more time together and got to understand each other more...it became clear we see the world in a very similar way. And we see the potential in a program like ours in a very similar way. And we have the same expectations. Championship-level expectations. 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 we should go, and the way that I felt best positioned our program for long-term success."

There's been reports that Fickell is interested in bringing over some of his recruiting staff, as well as his strength coach, Brady Collins. This is standard practice for an external hire. But has he considered the prospect of potentially working with Leonhard?

"Yes, definitely, I am. I met with Jim for about an hour yesterday, we'll meet again Wednesday. We had a great conversation, (I'm) very open to picking his brain about a lot of things. He loves this place, he's a die-hard. There's a lot of options that are open. I respect Jim, I don't know Jim all that well. I'm getting to know him. I know him from afar...Jim will know what's best for him. Jim will know what's best for this program, for this team. We'll continue to talk about what the future looks like, but we don't know what that is right now."

"There'll be a few (Cincy staffers) who come with me right away, but we're gonna work this process and find out what's best for this place."

Wisconsin's football staff is going to be completely rebuilt. If Leonhard is part of that, that'll be up to him.

To go out into the college football landscape and poach a head coach with playoff experience, McIntosh needed more than just the tradition that is Wisconsin football. He needed to make assurances to Fickell that the athletic department would give him what he needs to achieve his vision. McIntosh touched on what those were:

"The comforting aspect of the conversations that I had with Luke were determining where are the areas we need to bring up to speed, improve on, both operationally within our football program, recruiting is one area there. But also in terms of capital projects; it's no secret that we're pursuing a new indoor practice facility...to NIL opportunities, embracing a changing world."

This sounds like a hefty commitment from McIntosh to running a modern program. He truly sees this as a turning point for Badger football.

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