The Wisconsin football program has experienced a surprising amount of coaching turnover this offseason.
It’s not as if Luke Fickell’s team was in the National Championship and had assistants getting promotions left and right. This turnover felt unique, with several assistants making lateral moves to other programs.
Wide receivers coach Mike Brown took the same position at Notre Dame, safeties coach Colin Hitschler moved laterally to Alabama and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. was moved to an off-field role — though that appears to have been performance-related.
Related: Power ranking all 18 Big Ten football programs after the 2023 season
Brown and Hitschler are significant losses, especially on the recruiting trail. Not to raise any alarm bells. It’s just surprising to see two of the more important assistants move laterally to other jobs.
The real story here is who was hired to replace them. At safeties coach, it’s former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch — which fans seem unhappy about.
Here is Luke Fickell’s full 2024 coaching staff as he enters a pivotal year in his tenure at Wisconsin: