The Badgers made some drastic changes in the offseason this year.
The Wisconsin Badgers made some drastic changes to their football program this offseason, namely hiring Jeff Grimes as their new offensive coordinator to replace Phil Longo.
Grimes, a former offensive coordinator at Kansas, Baylor, and BYU, comes with a run-dominant background as a former offensive lineman, and is expected to return Wisconsin to its roots with a more physical style of play, rather than the ‘Air Raid’ offense that fans saw over the past two seasons.
After failing with his first offensive coordinator hire, head coach Luke Fickell is looking to change the identity of Wisconsin Football this offseason back to something more relatable for the program, hoping to generate more success after middling results over his first two years in Madison.
But, will that identity change result in more wins on the football field?
“I feel like it’s the identity that we need,” Fickell said, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “And it’s not completely all the way old-school back, but I think the idea of being more multiple and truly understanding what physicality-first looks like is where we kind of came to.
“Whether it was Coach Grimes’ philosophy or his scheme or really just his personality. I think we’re in a good place. Obviously, we’ve got a ways to continue to grow, but I really do feel like we’ve got the identity that fits us, that gives us a chance to lean on our guys up front, but still be multiple enough to say, “Hey, we’ve got to be able to create big plays and create space and get down the field just maybe in some different ways.”
It’s been a tough adjustment for Fickell, who acknowledged that his first year was ‘probably’ the most difficult of his career when speaking to the media at the end of his inaugural campaign in Madison.
In 2024, Wisconsin’s illustrious streak of making a bowl appearance was snapped, and the lack of success over two seasons prompted the head coach to make some changes.
“I think in the first two years [being here] I was in the mindset of trying to do it the same way, continuing to build from within and keeping everybody in, as many as you could, and getting them to continue to grow and build and be who you want us to be,” Fickell continued.
“And I think going into Year 3 was the first time we recognized like, ‘OK, there’s some things that we have to do different, whether it’s a little bit more schematically, whether it’s truly size-wise defensively, which we recognized that we really had to do.’ And so, to start the offseason, it wasn’t just, “OK, you don’t have a bowl game and things like that.” It was like, “OK, first let’s have some really deep conversations, because there’s going to have to be some changes made.”
That entailed one of the busiest offseasons in all of college football, as Wisconsin saw over two dozen players enter the transfer portal, while over 20 players joined the program from another school.
“Some of the bringing new guys in was, because, for the first time we had to be a little bit more honest and say, “OK, there’s some changes from within that we had to make,” Fickell said.
“Whether that was everybody just looks at, well, it’s the offense that you changed. There was a lot of things from within the guys that even had been here that like, OK, you probably should have recognized some things that we maybe could have done a little earlier, but the way to grow and change every bit as much of, OK, what do you need to go get from the outside that gives you a better opportunity.”
Now, heading into 2025, there is some urgency to succeed after two disappointing seasons. But, Wisconsin faces one of the toughest schedules in the country, which may make this transition more of a work-in-progress.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin has a new identity in place, and it’s one that Fickell believes will carry them to a better future than the one the Badgers have seen over the past few seasons.