48-year NFL Draft streak comes back to bite Wisconsin, make HC Luke Fickell's seat hotter
The Wisconsin football program has been storied in NFL Draft history for nearly half a century. But this year, things are grim in Madison.
48-year NFL Draft streak comes back to bite Wisconsin, make HC Luke Fickell's seat hotter originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Despite Wisconsin Badgers' football coach Luke Fickel l being given another chance to turn the football program around this fall, his team's transition of ex-players into the NFL during this draft cycle was nonexistent.
Since at least 1978, at least one player had been selected in every NFL Draft until this past weekend in Pittsburgh, Pa. In a nutshell, this is unheard of for a program like the Badgers, the same team that until two years ago, was consistently in the postseason with six-plus-win seasons following Now, Fickell is at a crossroads. MORE: Composite college football top 25 rankings for 2026: Ohio State, Texas lead Way Too Early lists "I'm kind of saying, 'Look, guys, we got to focus on the now," Fickell told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
"We got to make sure that everybody that's in this thing is committed and aligned, and the future will take care of itself," Fickell said. "A part of that is how we play. We got to do some things to be able to make sure we put the product out there to win.
"We're not shying away from saying: It's about winning. " So far, Fickell has done anything but win over the last two seasons, especially last year. The Badgers stumbled to a 4-8 finish despite a brief, late-season surge that included a home upset win in late-November against the eventual nine-win Illinois Fighting Illini .