Wisconsin surprised the college football world twice last season: first by jettisoning Paul Chryst after five games, and then again by snagging Luke Fickell from Cincinnati instead of native son Jim Leonhard. I get the decision to fire Chryst after blowout losses to Ohio State and Illinois; the surprise was doing it in early October. And while people expected Fickell to get a Big Ten or possibly SEC job, I’m not sure anybody thought that Wisconsin would lay down the money to make that move. Or disrupt the “Wisconsin Way” of staying within the family with coaching changes.
And if that wasn’t enough change, Fickell hired Phil Longo from North Carolina to implement his version of the Air Raid offense.