With less than 100 days until Notre Dame football kicks off its run to the national title, Irish fans were reminded how little regard rival coaches hold for Luke Fickell. The Wisconsin Badgers’ head coach was already expected by many to be a lame duck coach in 2026. This year’s Athlon Magazine snippets from anonymous coaches about various opponents showed that some Big Ten assistants are absolutely mystified that Fickell still has a job.
Each year, Athlon polls opposing coaches for every single team in college football. Generally, they are in the same conference since they tend to know the subject material better. Of course, for the Irish, it’s not clear where the anonymous coach comments came from, but they were glowing, calling CJ Carr better than No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick and former Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Rather than glowing comments about Wisconsin and Luke Fickell, those anonymous sources were absolutely brutal about a team that has the misfortune of opening a make-or-break season against a Notre Dame team that’s already a heavy favorite…