The University of Wisconsin hired Luke Fickell in 2022, confident his success with the Cincinnati Beartcats would carryover and help the football program get back to winning double-digit games. In his last two seasons, Fickell has won seven games. It’s beyond time to start evaluating Wisconsin Badgers coaching candidates.
One thing worth noting ahead of a Badgers coaching search is this program’s rather unfortunate timing. This offseason, we’ll be heading into a college football coaching carousel where the Penn State Nittany Lions, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles and Auburn Tigers will all likely have head-coaching vacancies. In a best-case scenario, the Badgers might have the fifth-best job available. That’s worth keeping in mind.
Let’s dive into our list of Wisconsin coaching candidates.
Fran Brown, Syracuse Orange Coach
If Wisconsin wants to shake up its program by going with a head coach who brings some personality and intensity, look no further than Fran Brown. The former Georgia Bulldogs defensive backs coach landed his first head-coaching gig with the Syracuse Orange ahead of the 2024 season, and he’s quickly become both one of the best young coaches in college football and one of the sport’s most intriguing characters.
The on-field results are what matter the most. Brown took over a Syracuse team that went 6-7 in the season before his arrival. He recognized the value of the transfer portal and landed multiple impact starters — Kyle McCord (4,779 passing yards, 34-12 TD-INT), Fadil Diggs (7.5 sacks), Devin Grant (3 forced fumbles, 2 sacks, and 1 interception), and Jackson Meeks (1,021 receiving yards) — who helped Syracuse win 10 games for only the second time since 2008. While the Orange haven’t been as successful this year, that’s in large part because they lost top quarterback Steve Angeli to a torn Achilles in September.
Before arriving at Syracuse, Brown was also one of the best recruiters in college football. Players are drawn to him, even knowing he’s the same guy who had the team run sprints due to their poor performance after a win over UConn. Speaking to his character, Brown’s son is on Syracuse’s roster, but the head coach admitted he is paying his son’s tuition so another player can be under scholarship.
Jim Leonhard, Denver Broncos Assistant Coach
It would be foolish to have a list of Badgers coaching candidates without including Jim Leonhard on it. One reason for that is he has strong support from fellow alumni. Furthermore, he’s already served on the Badgers coaching staff, and his résumé speaks for itself.
Leonhard, a former All-American at Wisconsin, joined the Badgers coaching staff in 2016 as the defensive backs coach. Just one year after getting into coaching, he was promoted to defensive coordinator. In that role from 2017–22, he oversaw one of the best defenses in college football. Leonhard became the interim head coach in 2022, leading the team to a 4-3 record.
| PPG | Total YPG | 3rd Down % | Yards per Play | |
| 2017 | 13.9 (2nd) | 262.1 (2nd in FBS) | 29.1% (4th) | 4.2 (3rd in FBS) |
| 2018 | 22.6 (27th) | 344.2 (24th) | 37.43% (48th) | 5.4 (50th) |
| 2019 | 16.9 (8th) | 288.6 (4th) | 27.27% (1st) | 4.6 (6th) |
| 2020 | 17.4 (9th) | 299.9 (4th) | 28.74% (5th) | 4.9 (19th) |
| 2021 | 16.2 (3rd) | 239.7 (1st) | 29.34% (2nd) | 4.0 (1st) |
| 2022 | 21.9 (24th) | 308.6 (9th) | 32.54% (15th) | 4.6 (11th) |
He didn’t wind up on top of the Badgers’ coaching search back in 2022, so he spent a season as a senior analyst for Illinois and has now been with the Denver Broncos for the past two years. He’s impressed Sean Payton enough to be promoted to assistant head coach this year. Only 42 years old, Leonhard already has familiarity with coaching at the collegiate level, and he can now bring some NFL concepts to the Power 4. Plus, if he were named the next Badgers head coach, Wisconsin would never have to worry about him leaving if he’s successful.
Lance Leipold, Kansas Jayhawks Coach
If Fickell is fired, Jim Leonhard and Lance Leipold will rightfully headline every list of Wisconsin coaching candidates. It makes sense because the Badgers ideally need to find someone with roots in the area who would view this as the “dream job” and could take this program back to the standard level of consistency it deserves.
Leipold, age 51, is a Wisconsin native who played quarterback from 1983–86 for Wisconsin-Whitewater. Coaching was his calling, as he immediately became the program’s quarterbacks coach in 1987 and then worked his way up the ranks. As a head coach, he won six Division III national championships with his alma mater. He turned that success into a head-coaching gig at Buffalo, where he compiled a 30-16 record (.652 winning percentage) in his final four seasons before landing at Kansas.
With the Jayhawks, Leipold was left to clean up the mess left by Les Miles. It took just two seasons before Kansas reached a bowl game for the first time in more than a decade, and the program went 9-4 the following year. Leipold has demonstrated that he can win anywhere, helping instill a great culture, and his offenses are consistent. The top two Badgers coaching candidates should be Leipold and Leonhard.
G.J. Kinne, Texas State Bobcats Coach
There are other college football coaching candidates worth consideration for Wisconsin besides the fan favorites with ties to the program or region. One of the smartest things a mid-tier program can do is attach itself to a young head coach, exercising patience with him through the growing pains with the hope that he becomes the next great coach who will be with the program for a decade or more. G.J. Kinne could be that guy.
Turning 37 years old in December, the former Tulsa quarterback has found a home in coaching. He’s gained experience across the country, with stops as an assistant at SMU (2017), Arkansas (2018), and with the Philadelphia Eagles (2019). He then worked his way further up the coaching ladder, serving as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Hawai’i (2020) and UCF (2021) before landing his first head-coaching job at Incarnate Word.
Kinne went 12-2 in his lone season at Incarnate Word before getting snatched up by Texas State. Walking into a program that won 10 total games in its previous three seasons, Kinne’s first year delivered an 8-5 record and a victory in the First Responder Bowl. He replicated that in 2024. He’s a rising name in the coaching world, and Wisconsin could get in early on him.
Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
If fans want more of a proven commodity rather than betting on someone with minimal head-coaching experience, look no further than Tyson Helton. After all, his success with the Hilltoppers isn’t all that different from Jeff Brohm’s.
Helton is regarded as one of the best offensive minds in college football, with his track record as the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky (2014–16), quarterbacks coach and pass-game coordinator at USC (2016–17), and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tennessee (2018) speaking to that. He returned to Western Kentucky after the program went 3-9 under Mike Sanford. The very next year, Helton’s team won nine games, and he’s on the verge of reaching that nine-win mark for the fourth time in seven years. In two of those other seasons, the team won eight games.
There’s another quality, besides his scheme and head-coaching record, that could prove appealing. Helton has an eye for talent in coaching, with Ben Arbuckle (Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator) and Zach Kittley (FAU head coach) part of his coaching tree. Wisconsin could feel quite confident in his ability to build a quality coaching staff.
