New Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell will continue to be a presence around the Badgers during Tuesday night’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix, but not as the man in charge, he said Monday.
Fickell plans to be on the sideline, wearing a headset and coaching where he can help, but he’ll continue to let interim head coach Jim Leonhard handle his duties against Oklahoma State. Fickell said his communication during the game Tuesday night will be “much different” than it normally would be during a game. He’ll help relay Leonhard’s plan to the team while trying to keep “everything as similar as possible.”
Fickell, who was hired away from Cincinnati on Nov. 27, made a strategic decision to not take the reins away from Leonhard when he came on board, but he wanted to find a way to be around his new team.