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A New Wisconsin Way

Lead columnist Kyle Golik delves into the massive changes that have taken place in Madison

February 13, 2023
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When athletic director Chris McIntosh replaced the legendary football head coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez in Wisconsin, he knew what the measuring stick was, because as a player helped establish that winning tradition. A starting tackle and team captain during the Rose Bowl runs in 1998 and 1999, McIntosh had been the AD in waiting during the final years of the Alvarez administration.

Over the last 30 years, Alvarez set a successful foundation that placed Wisconsin to be amongst the nation’s winningest programs, winning nearly 70% of their games, 13 double digit winning seasons, 28 bowl appearances (including nine New Year’s Six bowl appearances), and six Big Ten conference championships, plus an additional five Big Ten division championships.

Between 2012 and 2021, Wisconsin was the eighth winningest program in the country.

Feb 20, 2022; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Chris McIntosh addresses the media about the altercation with the Michigan Wolverines team during the post-game media conference at the Kohl Center. 

As McIntosh took over for Alverez in July 2021, he had a firm understanding of the standard he helped to set and the obligation he had to uphold that standard.

When McIntosh began to assess his program after his first season being athletic director, Wisconsin had essentially lost three high profile games, two in Camp Randall against Penn State and Michigan, and a neutral site game in Chicago against Notre Dame. Then, the Badgers lost the Paul Bunyan Axe after a disastrous third quarter, a rivalry game that Wisconsin had won 16 of the previous 17 times.

After the Rose Bowl collapse against Oregon in the 2020 Rose Bowl, the Badgers were 2-6 against ranked competition. McIntosh began to notice the standard of Wisconsin set was not being set.

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As the 2022 season got underway, the second-year AD was looking for improvement. And while Wisconsin took care of the FCS (Illinois State) and Group of 5 (New Mexico State) to the tune of 104-7, it was a head scratching loss to Washington State at home  that began the uneasiness for McIntosh.

Accelerating the angst was a primetime demolition by Ohio State in Columbus who were down at one point 45-7. Adding insult to injury, ESPN cut away during fourth quarter action for Holly Rowe to interview Brutus the Buckeye after Brutus got trucked by contestants in large inflatable balls. 

However, for McIntosh, it was the Illinois game that sealed the fate for head coach Paul Chryst. For starters, the game was personal for Wisconsin with, former head coach Bret Bielema returning to Madison for the first time since the 2012 season. After leading the Badgers to their third consecutive Rose Bowl, Bielema jettisoned for Arkansas.

Wisconsin had won 11 of 12 versus Illinois and was in desperation to get their first Power 5 win of the season. What ensued was the most lopsided loss in Camp Randall Stadium since Penn State routed the Badgers 48-7 in 2008, and the first Illinois win in Madison since 2002.

The Wisconsin ground game could only muster two rushing yards against the Illini, while the defense couldn’t stop Chase Brown, getting bulldozed by a bruising Illinois offensive line.

Oct 1, 2022; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema greets Wisconsin Badgers head coach Paul Chryst following the game at Camp Randall Stadium. 

The regression Wisconsin football program was experiencing was something McIntosh felt Chryst couldn’t reverse. 

All the goodwill Chryst had built up during his time with the program — from being the key architect for the Russell Wilson offense that averaged over 44 points per game, coordinating two Big Ten Championship offenses, winning three Big Ten West Division championships as head coach, winning 6 off 7 bowl games — had run out. McIntosh’s termination of Chryst sent shockwaves across the conference.

“It’s a big decision and it’s got implications that are not lost on me, but really, really thankful to have been able to work side by side with Coach Chryst through some incredibly exhilarating, positive moments, and some tough ones like today, it’s my role to have the position of our program always on my mind. We just reached a point where today I felt was the right time to make that decision. It’s not one I take lightly; it’s an incredibly tough day for us all. But I’m incredibly optimistic that today is the first day of the future of this program.” McIntosh said after terminating Chryst and naming defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard head coach.

Oct 22, 2022; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Jim Leonhard reacts to a call during the fourth quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Camp Randall Stadium.

McIntosh then turned his microscope to Leonhard. The Leonhard experiment was a mixed bag. The former All-American safety was able to defeat eventual Big Ten West champion Purdue on homecoming, and extend Wisconsin’s bowl streak for a 21st consecutive season.

The downside for Leonhard was his inability to get consistent play by the offense and defense. This was characterized in the double overtime loss against a Michigan State team whose play at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball was terribly inconsistent all season.

Leonhard also lost two key rivalry games against Iowa and Minnesota. In the case of the latter, it gave the Gophers back-to-back victories over the Badgers for the first time since 1993-94. With the earlier season loss to Illinois, it was the first time Wisconsin lost to its three most bitter rivals, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, since the 1990 season. The same year that Barry Alvarez took over in Madison.


McIntosh wasn’t given a good reason to give Leonhard, who was a prohibitive favorite to replace Chryst, the head coaching job. If McIntosh wasn’t going to stick with the Badger legend, someone who was among the most popular and accomplished assistant coaches in the country, he would need to hit a home run.

Realizing quickly if you aren’t going to give a former three time First-Team All-American, and an extremely popular defensive coordinator who was part of the Wisconsin staff since 2016 the job, McIntosh knew he had to hit a home run.

New Wisconsin head football coach Luke Fickell, right, poses with athletic director Chris McIntosh at a news conference introducing Fickell on Monday, November 28, 2022 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. He was previously head coach for six seasons at Cincinnati. 

And hit a home run he did. McIntosh was able to land his top choice in former Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell.

“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 said of Fickell. “And we have the same expectations — championship-level expectations. And it became evident that Luke and his experience, his belief system, his approach, his process, which was proven and does align with what we believe here, was the way that I thought we should go. It was the way that I felt best positioned our program for long-term success.”

If you are to believe Kirk Herbstreit when he said on the Dan Patrick Show in December 2021 that Fickell could have had the Southern California, LSU, Notre Dame, or potentially Oklahoma jobs, that tells you the caliber of coach Fickell is and he is at Wisconsin.

“This is a destination job at a program that I have admired from afar for years,” said Fickell in a statement after agreeing to become Wisconsin’s next head coach. “I am in total alignment with [athletic director] Chris McIntosh’s vision for this program. There is a tremendous foundation here that I can’t wait to build upon. This world-class university, athletic department and passionately loyal fan base all have a strong commitment to success and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

A new Wisconsin includes bringing in offensive coordinator Phil Longo from North Carolina who will implement a variant of the Air Raid in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin new offensive coordinator, Phil Longo, has his first interview session with reporters at the McClain Center in Madison, Wis. on Jan. 5, 2023.

To support this new vision, Wisconsin has been aggressive in the transfer portal bringing in 13 scholarship transfers, with nine of those transfers on offense, including three former four-star quarterbacks and four wide receivers.

Notably, quarterbacks Tanner Mordecai, who completed nearly two thirds of his passes for 33 touchdowns from Southern Methodist, and Nick Evers, who was a four-star quarterback for Oklahoma in the Class of 2022, move to Madison with a lot of fanfare.

2022 four-star wide receiver CJ Williams, who transferred in from Southern California, summed up why he picked Wisconsin, “It’s an offense that can be unstoppable. Because if you look at it from an all-around perspective, we’ve got receivers. In my opinion we do. A lot of people would say these guys aren’t proven enough as other Big Ten guys, whether it be Ohio State, Penn State guys, whatever. But I think we have the receivers to go out there and put on a show and spread out that defense.”

McIntosh has begun to distinguish himself from his predecessor, but is looking to not only maintain but also exceed those that was set by Alvarez. This isn’t going to be your typical Wisconsin team that runs the ball 30 to 40 times a game and beats you physically, they are about to air it out and look to take it to the next level and make the College Football Playoff.

Fickell did it once before and did it as an underdog, and Wisconsin gives him the resources to compete nationally. With that investment and belief of wanting to be a national power, the day has dawned on a new Wisconsin program.

Category: College Football, FeaturedTag: Bihal Kone, Chris McIntosh, Cole Nelson, College Football, Evan Pryor, Feature Article, Henry Omohundro, Kennesaw State, Luke Fickell, Nick Evers, Phil Longo, Wisconsin Badgers
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