Wisconsin Football: How Luke Fickell intends to recruit at UW
The new head coach of the Wisconsin football program, Luke Fickell, provided some insight into how he intends to recruit at UW.
MADISON, Wis. – It's been a whirlwind couple of days since Luke Fickell was introduced as the 31st head coach of the Wisconsin football program on Monday afternoon.
During his introductory press conference, coach Fickell covered a myriad of topics surrounding his vision for the program, schematics, and everyone's favorite, recruiting.
"I do not want to be a transfer team. I'm a high school recruiting guy that says it's about development of young men," Fickell said.
How does Luke Fickell intend to recruit at UW?
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program and, in many ways, comes down to building relationships, trust, and a track record of helping young athletes attain their goals.
More than that, recruiting also comes down to geography and a player's proximity to home.
"Within a 300-mile radius, that will be the core of what we do here," Fickell said in his introductory press conference. "I have a good grasp on that; obviously, I have to learn a lot more about the 50-mile, 60-mile, 100-mile radius, but I know that as you get into Chicago and the areas where you have done an unbelievable job, there's a lot of roots that have built there. I know that if we can kind of capture that like we did, with that 300-mile radius where the core of the program is, then we can extend to the other areas."
While simplistic, his process for team building makes a ton of sense, especially for a school like UW. Wisconsin doesn't churn out a plethora of four and five-star prospects, but the Badgers must keep a proverbial fence around the state to ensure their top in-state kids stay home.
"But that's my job is to figure out what's been real successful here," Fickell said. "I'm still in that process, but I know that the 300-mile radius is an opportunity to make this program, this team, a championship team."