The Wisconsin Badgers are entering their fourth season under Luke Fickell. Before any real momentum could build in their offseason, the head coach is again losing one of his coaching staff members. To make matters worse, this will be the fourth time in as many years that Fickell will look for a coach for wide receivers.

According to ON3’s Pete Nakos, Wisconsin’s WRs coach Jordan Reid has accepted an assistant QB coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. The former Ohio University player joined the Badgers in January 2025 and led the development of some of the key WR returners for Wisconsin’s 2026 ambitions.

Jordan Reid led WRs like V. Anthony II and Trech Kekahuna develop their game.  Anthony, in turn, received for 391 yards, while Kekahuna received for 211 yards in 2025. Badgers senior Jayden Ballard also elevated his game and received for 150 yards after coming from Ohio State, after accumulating just 18 yards in 2024. Amongst the returning WRs, Reid’s Chris Brooks Jr’s development will come in handy.

According to reports, Chris Brooks Jr is slated to become a starter at the WR position after receiving 124 yards in 2025. Tyrell Henry is another returnee who worked under Reid and is coming back for the 2026 season as a starter. While Reid’s job in the WR unit is decent at Wisconsin, it wasn’t his best stint. Going by his past tenure at Western Michigan, Reid has consistently produced elite wide receivers.

In 2022, under Jordan Reid, WMU’s receiving unit notched 167 of the 247 receptions. Additionally, Kenneth Womack accumulated 691 yards and caught 76 catches, earning First Team All-MAC honors. Womack went on to notch 1,236 yards under Reid’s guidance in two seasons, and three of the Broncos’ WRs caught 30+ passes in the 2024 season.

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Since Reid has overseen the development of some elite WRs, his coaching resume naturally makes him a fit for the Falcons job. Add in that he played as a WR at Ohio from 2013 to 2016 and notched 1,667 yards. You are looking at a coach climbing the NFL trajectory swifter than many coaches. For now, coaching the QBs seems like an easy transition. But don’t be shocked if we see him coaching WRs for Kevin Stefanski in later years.

Luke Fickell is facing a constant WRs coach hiring dilemma

Ever since the 2025 season ended for Luke Fickell, he managed just 4 wins, and the 52-year old has forced coaches leave his camp. More so because the program has already accumulated 20 losses under his helm. After ending the 2025 season, Fickell moved from O-line coach A.J. Blazek and hired Eric Mateos. Although he must have been planning on keeping Jordan Reid. His WR coach’s move to the NFL has opened some old wounds.

Last year, Fickell shifted WRs coach Kenny Guiton to the QBs coach for the team and hired Jordan Reid. Before that, in 2023, WRs coach Mike Brown accepted the Notre Dame WRs coaching job. In the 2022 season, Alvis Whitted departed from the team after spending three years as WRs coach with Wisconsin, moving to Utah. Now, in Fickell’s next hire, retaining a WR coach for the long term should be a priority.

The Columbus, Ohio, native will likely now tap into his old Cincinnati and Ohio State connections for making his next hire. The head coach should focus on young and underrated names like Kirby Smart does, tapping into G-5 and FCS programs’ coaches. Smart, for instance, hired a relatively unknown OLBs coach after Dan Lanning’s departure in Chidera Uzo-Diribe, and it paid off massive dividends. Fickell should follow a similar blueprint.