Note to readers: Coaches Confidential is a series in which Milwaukee-area coaches answer questions under the condition of anonymity related to topics of our choosing.
As Wisconsin football has gotten out to a 2-6 start to the 2025 season in the third year under coach Luke Fickell, fans and alumni alike have bemoaned a program that has not looked or performed like those of recent decades.
The 2025 Badgers football roster includes 35 athletes who hail from a Wisconsin hometown. In 2021, the last full season under coach Paul Chryst before he was fired midway through the 2022 season, that number was 48. The 2021 roster also included notable future NFL players from Wisconsin including Braelon Allen, Chimere Dike, Hunter Wohler and Jake Ferguson. Dike later transferred to Florida in December 2023, nearly a year after Fickell’s hire in November 2022.
What do area high school coaches think about the efforts to recruit in-state under Fickell?
The Journal Sentinel reached out to two dozen Milwaukee-area high school football coaches with an anonymous survey designed to gather perceptions of the relationships the UW football program has cultivated under Fickell’s tenure. These coaches lead some of the Milwaukee area’s most competitive programs in both team performance and the development of NCAA Division I prospects. Many have been involved in or are currently involved with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, putting them in position to be familiar with regional and statewide trends.
Thirteen coaches responded with their thoughts. These responses have not been edited aside from the removal of a specific recruit who may have identified a respondent.
How would you characterize your relationship with the Wisconsin Badgers football program in the time since Luke Fickell was hired in November 2022?
If you were in your current role as head of a Milwaukee-area program dating back beyond 2022, were there differences in how the Wisconsin football program interacted with your program under previous Badgers coaches?
Has your program received any specific, non-general outreach from the Badgers (phone calls, individual emails, snail mail) in the past six months?
Yes — 7; No — 6
Has your program received an in-person visit from Luke Fickell or another representative of the Wisconsin football program in the past six months?
Yes — 7; No — 6
Note to readers: All 13 respondents indicated the same yes/no response on both of the previous two questions.
Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football staff have made high school coaches and players in the state of Wisconsin a priority?
Respondents were asked to rate whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree with the above statement.
Strongly agree — 0; Agree — 3; Disagree — 9; Strongly disagree — 1
Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football staff have a responsibility to build relationships with all high school programs in Wisconsin, not just those who have potential DI recruits?
Strongly agree — 3; Agree — 7; Disagree — 3; Strongly disagree — 0
What other comments do you have on Wisconsin’s recruiting efforts in-state and particularly in the greater Milwaukee area under Luke Fickell?
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: High school football coaches in the Milwaukee area describe recruiting under Badgers coach Luke Fickell
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
