On Saturday, Camp Randall witnessed more than just a lopsided score. A 27-10 thrashing as 10.5-point favorites against Maryland turned what was meant to be a bounce-back game after last week’s 38-14 collapse at Alabama into one of the most humiliating home losses in Luke Fickell’s tenure. The Badgers dropped to 2-2 on the season after managing just 225 total yards, making numerous special teams slips, and losing their starting quarterback once more. With fans hurling “Fire Fickell” chants at a coach who is currently sitting at just 15-15 in Madison and looking at a 38% chance to even make a bowl game, the boos were deafening.

How much does Wisconsin owe Luke Fickell?

Although Wisconsin fans are currently yelling “Fire Fickell,” doing so would come with one of the greatest costs in college football history. The Badgers would owe Luke Fickell more than $25 million, the second-largest buyout in history, if they broke their ties with him following the 2025 season. With $100k raises built in, his contract pays him $7.7 million this year, with a final payment of $8.3 million in March 2032. Accordingly, Wisconsin would be forced to continue paying him checks totaling roughly $334,000 per month until 2032 if he were to be fired.

The worst part? After the 2024 season, the Badgers simply gave him an extension, but it had no impact on his buyout. Yes, it has been dropped, but not nearly enough to make it easy, since firing him a year ago would have cost more than $40 million. For comparison, when Paul Chryst was fired in 2022, Wisconsin paid him about $11 million, which seemed like a lot at the time. Even though fans are growing impatient, administrators must reconsider their actions before acting hastily because Fickell’s amount is more than double that of Chryst’s.

And that is the real problem in this situation. Sitting at 15-15 overall, losing to Maryland at home, and already missing a bowl last season for the first time since 2001, Fickell hasn’t produced the outcomes Madison was hoping for. But firing him now would severely damage the athletic department’s finances. Therefore, even though the chants at Camp Randall may become louder, Wisconsin will find it much more difficult to act, at least this year, given the financial situation.

All about the head coach’s 2025 buyout amid Badgers fans’ outrage

Right now, Luke Fickell’s buyout situation is as chaotic as Wisconsin’s on-field performance. Wisconsin owes him 80% of his remaining contract, according to the terms of the deal. However, when they added an extension through 2032, they included a clause that sets the damages at $6.48 million following the 2029 regular season. For someone who led Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff in 2021 and was once the most popular coach, this is a huge contract, but the spotlight has quickly faded in Madison.

Fans are venting in the stands, but they aren’t exactly analyzing contract math. “I hate Trev, but man, I’m glad he chose Rhule over Fickell for us,” one fan wrote bluntly. Another compared the whole mess to Nebraska’s situation, saying, “I have told many Wisconsin fans that they are following the Nebraska blueprint when they fired their last coach. Many, many, many similarities! Good luck to them.”

And it didn’t end there. One fan commented, “Fickell looks lost and completely uninterested on the sidelines.” Some even argued that Fickell might have performed better in Lincoln, but acknowledged that “the last thing Neb needed was for another successful coach to come here and fail.” Whether it’s fair or not, the vibe around Fickell right now is that Wisconsin bet big on a proven winner may be stuck paying big for a coach who now appears to be the wrong fit for the team.