This is easily the most fun I've had in years on this board. Everyone is in the same mode, up, down, elated, saying WTH, clicking refresh every 3 minutes....CM is accomplishing what he set out to do and that is generate a great deal of interest in the program, and as the rabid and faithful 5% of us on these types of boards exhibits, interest has been raised. And I'd say hope and excitement for the future. I can't tell you how down I was on the program after the RB loss then the PSU loss. I had no hope this thing was going in the right direction and I think CM probably felt the same way. What's most exciting, exhilarating is that this program is going in a completely different direction than the formulaic "Wisconsin way" which has garnered so much succuss. We and the entire athletic department and football program are going somewhat outside the safe space comfort zone of what BA built. That is terrifying and exciting at the same time. WILL IT WORK? Who knows, but every indication is that it has a fighting chance and everything we are seeing is literally new in the last 30 years (GA wasn't a splash hire and Fickell is...). My only hope is that so much of this excitement isn't shut down at the gates of admission because we could be seeing something really cool here...and might I say without jinxing it, take us to the next level...

Will Coach LF be bringing most of all of his staff with him? Here is his UC staff for this season:

Current OC/QB is Gino Guidugli who played at UC. He was OC this year after Mike Denbrock left to be OC at LSU. Coached at UC since 2017, before that Central Mich.

Current DC is Mike Tressel. He was hired from MSU after Freeman left for ND. Tressel could be a candidate for the UC HC job.

Current special teams coordinator is Kerry Coombs. He was fired as DC at OSU. He is a Cincinnati native.

WR Coach is Mike Brown. 4th Season as WR coach. Played 3 season for the Jaguars.

Co-DC Safeties is Colin Hitschler. 3rd year at UC. Grad assistant before that.

RB Coach is Darren Paige. Second year as RB coach at UC. Coached WRs at Eastern Mich.

OL Coach is Mike Cummings. He's coached OL since 1980s mostly at Central/East/West Michigan.

TE Coach is Nate Letton. First season as TE coach at UC, was grad assistant 2 previous years.

OLB Coach is James Ross III. First year at UC. Was a grad assistant at Mich and played there.

DL Coach is Walter Stewart. First year at UC. Coached DL at Temple previously.

S&C is Brady Collins. Has had the role since 2017.

Director of Recruiting is Pat Lambert.

Director of Recruiting Strategy is Max Stienecker.

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Hermann has emerged from nowhere this fall as a legit D1 kid. Vanderbilt offered today and visits are set up to Iowa and Iowa State.

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What does anyone know about the realignment? I'm hearing some schools are not happy with the traveling they now have to do and size of schools they have to play against? Some teams will have to travel over 2 hours for some games and play against schools that are almost double the size? If true, it almost seems like this could discourage kids from playing football. Not to mention most rivalries and traditions could be finished.

Why did Longo leave North Carolina? - Pay raise? Is Mack close to retiring? - Just close to Luke Fickle?

Where does Jimmy coach next year? - DC at Nebraska? DC at Purdue?

What is Mickey Turner doing? Will he be kept on our recruiting staff?

Bostad - now at Indiana - offered the following prospects from Wisconsin today.

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I wanted JL as HC and certainly wanted him to stay on. However, the decisions have been made and now it is clearly Like Fickell’s team. Let’s go!

I honestly could not see how it was going to work with Jimmy staying on, so this is likely good for all involved.

I am sure the players are emotional….yet they probably have known or thought they knew for a while.

I hope the players see the opportunity ahead with a new coach and coaches and stay the course…at least through Spring ball.

Wild days remain…but On Wisconsin!

1. It seems like I am in agreement with most here that McIntosh picked the right guy in Fickell, but in hindsight where I think he made a mistake was in firing Chryst in the midseason. It disrupted recruiting, it allowed for the alleged poaching of Badger players, it created discontent amongst the current team, and it created ill will between CM and Jim Leonhard. Chryst needed to go, but letting him go in October vs November created a shitstorm that may take a long while to calm down.

2. Even with Fickell hired something seems off. Graham Mertz transfers, Jim Leonhard leaves, there have been no twitter posts that I have seen from the players talking up the new coach. To me this seems like the program will have to take one step backwards to go forward, unless Fickell can massively change the attitudes of the current players.

3. It would be positive for the program to pull a stud out of the transfer portal. the Program seems to have so many negative things happening between players and Coaches opting out, getting a good player coming in could change the short term narrative around Fickell.

3. I usually put a few bucks on the Badgers in their bowl game….but is there any chance this team will have the focus needed to play a big game? No bet for me this year.

4. I hear a lot of talk about Fickell going to a 4-3. Not possible with the current team. We barely have enough good defensive linemen to run the 3-4.

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Potrykus has said multiple times that once the application period was over that Jim Leonhard would be announced as DC and that it was already a done deal. The application process is over so why hasn’t it been announced yet if it was indeed a done deal? Was he wrong?