MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Badger football is less than a month away and new head coach Luke Fickell is using that time to his advantage.
In addition to getting his team ready, he is busy learning about the state he now calls home.
Making a visit at the recent Boy Scout Leadership Breakfast in the Pfister Hotel, he is immersing himself in Wisconsin.
"For me to learn," Badgers Football Head Coach Fickell says. "And to meet a lot of people too. And to find out what's really important to these communities, to our community. Whether it's Milwaukee, whether it's Madison, or whatever. So I know I got to learn. I got a lot to learn about you know, obviously our state and things like that and these give me an opportunity not just obviously to give back a little bit but also to learn what's important around here."
Fickell can feel a buzz around the Badgers.
"I do. All I know from afar is the season of Badger football," Fickell says. "Watching, playing against. Preparing for, being here. So I've always thought and expected a buzz like this but I don't know what it's been like in the offseason so I've been pleasantly surprised."
And so far, he's beloved since he hasn't lost or coached a game.
"There's nothing negative out there just yet," Fickell says. "But we all know that at some point in time, there's going to be some adversity. We say that to our team all the time, they've accepted, they've embraced all the things that we've done. We haven't had adversity just yet."
Yet his standards are high.
"We'll pick up schemes," Fickell says. "Offensively, defensively. The ability for us to kind of grow together as a team, to push through things is so critical. There's so much adversity that happens within a season that sometimes you aren't prepared for. But you gotta do your best job through your winter and through your spring and through your fall camps to prepare for those things that happen a lot of times off of the field, that really tell us who we're going to be and how we're going to work together."
Fickell recently said the goal for the Badgers in year one should be competing for a championship. Ambitious, but the expectations equal the energy.
