Ari Wasserman ranked Big Ten football coach No. 10 among HCs under most pressure in 2025

As college football season looms, programs are scrambling to put themselves in the best possible position for a playoff run. For On3 analyst Ari Wasserman, there are 10 coaches particularly under pressure this year.

Wasserman foresees the most drama in the SEC and Big Ten, naming five and four coaches from each conference, respectively. Florida State, coming in at No. 5, was the sole ACC program on the list. 

Entering his third full season at the helm in Madison, Badgers head coach Luke Fickell was ranked No. 10 on Wasserman’s list. 

Fickell was the fourth and lowest Big Ten program leader on the list, behind USC’s Lincoln Riley (No. 4), Penn State’s James Franklin (No. 8) and Maryland’s Mike Locksley (No. 9). The Badgers finished last season with a 5-7 (3-6 Big Ten) record, No. 15 in the conference in Fickell’s second full year in charge.

“During Fickell’s first two years in Madison, the Badgers are 13-13, which is a decline from [former head coach Paul] Chryst’s output,” Wasserman wrote. “Maybe there are some growing pain[s] in trying to get a program to the next level, but Wisconsin seems to struggle with really identifying who it is as a program. Will the Badgers find it in 2025?”

Wisconsin used to know who it was. Wasserman pointed out part of why Fickell is under so much pressure is due to the expectations surrounding him joining the program in 2022.

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“Wisconsin was one of the most consistent college football programs in the country in the not-so-distant past. When things started to slip under Paul Chryst in the middle of the 2022 season, that wasn’t the type of aggressive move you’d think Wisconsin was even capable of,” Wasserman wrote. “Then it went out and got Luke Fickell from Cincinnati, closing on one of the hottest coaches in the game that year. The move was proof that Wisconsin wanted more than 9 wins. It wanted to be competitive nationally.” 

But the Badgers aren’t the national contenders they hoped to be under Fickell. Wisconsin finished 7-6 (4-2 Big Ten) in 2023, Fickell’s first full season as coach, and recorded a worse record the following year. 

This season, the Badgers have a fairly tough schedule. Fickell will have to prove himself against notable conference opponents Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon, as well as the SEC’s Alabama.