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Is Wisconsin serious about winning football games?
It's tempting to blame Luke Fickell for the Badgers' struggles — but financial shortcuts have been a real problem in Wisconsin's athletic department. Plus: Purdue attempts a turnaround under Barry Odom, Jeremiah Smith's latest big NIL deal and more.
Kyle Rowland
October 28, 2025
Hey there,
In today’s newsletter, we discuss one Big Ten football program that’s struggled to modernize in the NIL era and another that’s trying to stay afloat through resources! Plus, you can read up on the latest news from around the NIL world.
Before we move on to the rest of this newsletter, I wanted to remind you all of a fun upcoming event: On Thursday, Oct. 30, I’m hosting a free videoconference chat alongside Matt Brown, the founder and publisher of Extra Points. This will be an informal conversation where NIL Wire subscribers can ask questions, get to know me and Matt a little better and network with one another. This event is free to all NIL Wire subscribers!
I’ll share the exact link later this week. In the meantime, if you know you plan (or don’t plan!) to attend, voting in this poll and letting us gauge the numbers would help a lot.
Will you be able to make it to Office Hours on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m. CT? |
And one more piece of news before we get to the NIL of it all: Starting Thursday, we’re going to relaunch all-access premium subscriptions to NIL Wire. We want to deliver the best email newsletter possible, and I'll be using my decade-plus of experience and the relationships I've built along the way to bring you stories you won't find anywhere else. We hope you’re liking what you’re reading so far and that you’ll upgrade your subscription so you can keep getting all that NIL Wire has to offer, like our stories on rivalry game sponsorships, the wild ways schools are generating revenue and college basketball's version of "The Bachelor." Your support will help us continue to invest in making this newsletter essential reading for college sports fans, athletes and professionals, and we appreciate all of you very much!
— Kyle
KICKOFF
Purdue’s struggles don’t stem from a lack of resources
Later in the newsletter, we’ll discuss a Big Ten football program that hasn’t spent enough and has missed on transfers, resulting in wasted money.
This space is reserved for another Big Ten program that’s dealing with its arch-rival suddenly emerging as a college football powerhouse.
If Indiana can win big, so can Purdue. The Boilermakers have shown glimpses of sustained success since the late 1990s, and they were on that path again under Jeff Brohm. Now, Barry Odom is the man in charge of finding more wins.
Odom was asked recently about Purdue’s resources and commitment to NIL, and he responded with an enlightening message about having the right people in place and how it corresponds to winning.
“I talked to two coaches this morning — ex-coaches, I guess I should say at this point — some of those questions came up. I’m searching for answers and ways to do it,” Odom said. “Money is not always the answer. Getting the right fit in the organization and the right people in the right places, that's ultimately the answer.”
As the losses have mounted during the 2025 season, the question has come up time and again: Does Barry Odom have the necessary resources to build a roster?
Odom: “Purdue has been very aggressive in giving us every single thing that we need.”
on3.com/teams/purdue-b…— Tom Dienhart (@TomDienhart1)
5:29 PM • Oct 27, 2025
Odom took over one of the worst power conference programs, as Purdue struggled through a 5-19 stretch under former coach Ryan Walters. The Boilermakers were 1-11 last year and winless in the Big Ten. They are currently 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the conference, though there is noticeable improvement in competitiveness.
Odom brought several players from UNLV and hit the transfer portal hard. Athletic director Mike Bobinski has been aggressive in his support of the program.
“They’ve given us absolutely everything that we need in the 10 months I’ve been here to be successful,” Odom said after Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Rutgers.
Some would say, of course, that Odom isn’t going to complain about his boss. But Bobinski has been open about his commitment to football and Purdue’s ability to win. Brohm was one of the highest-paid coaches in the country. Walters had the necessary infrastructure; he was just a bad hire. Now, it’s Odom’s turn with the keys of a coveted sports car, even if it says “Purdue” along the side.
This will be one of the most interesting programs to keep tabs on for the next few years because of what it’s been in the past, the athletic department’s desire to be good and what its rival to the south is doing.
More news and links:
North Texas isn’t winning football games this season because it spent aggressively. The Mean Green are an underdog story in the NIL/revenue-sharing era.
For the third consecutive season, Jim White Toyota has provided two Toledo women’s basketball players with cars through an NIL partnership.
Ohio high school fans weighed in on the upcoming NIL vote in the state.
Despite the House settlement, the NIL landscape is chaotic.
Seton Hall is attempting to spark a men’s basketball turnaround through NIL spending.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Clever branding by Michigan field hockey
Now this is a smart idea! First of all, it’s great branding for Michigan, because some of the items mentioned are the university and athletic department’s biggest sponsors. Second, it gets the athletes exposure and perhaps some free swag.
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DOWN TO BUSINESS
Is Wisconsin serious about winning football games?
Opinions vary on the good and bad of name, image and likeness.
Carnegie Mellon professor Tim Derdenger authored a thought-provoking guest post last week for Extra Points about the parity-induced environment created by NIL. The current landscape, with Indiana, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Cincinnati ranked in the top 17, is only possible through NIL and transfer portal-driven roster construction.
The entry of also-rans into the college football consciousness has been equal parts exhilarating and illuminating. It’s exciting and, in my opinion, good for the health of the sport to have increased parity. The rise of Indiana and Vandy is also a case study in how wins are procured.
And there’s another side to this story, a Big Ten team that’s 0-5 in the conference with scoring outputs that read like arctic temperatures: 10, 10, 0, 0, 7. One could say it’s an Indiana-esque résumé, except that this team is part of the Big Ten’s old guard that hasn’t fully modernized.
Luke Fickell looked like the darling of the 2022-23 coaching cycle. He was a former all-Big Ten defensive lineman at Ohio State, a Buckeye assistant coach on two national championship staffs, and he’d taken Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff after the 2021 season. But his three-plus-season tenure with the Badgers has been a disaster. Fickell is 15-19 overall and 8-15 in the Big Ten.
Yes, the buck stops with the head coach. But Fickell hasn’t forgotten how to be good at his job. What has occurred in Madison is lagging behind the times. The athletic department has always had a reputation for spending less than its peers. Some would call it fiscal responsibility, while others might refer to it as penny-pinching. (Don’t forget, this is a program that lost Bret Bielema to a mediocre SEC job because of a lack of institutional support.)
Athletic director Chris McIntosh took direct aim at critics last week in a public statement backing Fickell.
“[Wisconsin] Athletics is committed to elevating the investment into our program to position us to compete at the highest level. As a department, we must provide our coaches the tools necessary to succeed,” McIntosh wrote.
#Badgers AD Chris McIntosh with a message to fans. Talks about supporting Luke Fickell and additional financial investment in the program.
— Zach Heilprin (@ZachHeilprin)
2:56 PM • Oct 20, 2025
There are two immediate thought bubbles. First, why now, in 2025, are you deciding to invest more? It’s an incomprehensible, years-too-late admission. Second, should McIntosh be the person in charge of this plan after previous missteps?
McIntosh has been creative, juicing revenue with sponsorship opportunities at the Kohl Center and bringing concerts to Camp Randall Stadium. But the Badgers haven’t been able to piece together a talented football roster, and the basketball team lost its best player (AJ Storr) to Kansas after the 2023-24 season.
The Varsity Collective was set up a year late. And once it launched, the execution was sloppy. In past comments about NIL and the transfer portal, McIntosh has echoed what many of his colleagues have said, but he sounds like someone who is unwilling to adjust. Rules should not be trampled, but the lawsuit Wisconsin filed against Miami last summer for tampering is all the proof needed to show the Badgers lack the seriousness required to win in the NIL era.
According to the Extra Points Library, Wisconsin spent $49 million on football for FY2024 — $15 million less than Rutgers, $12 million less than Indiana and 11th in the Big Ten!
Part of the equation is Wisconsin's culture. The fan base is passionate, but it doesn’t reach the level of Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama or LSU, places where fans believe it's their birthright to have a national championship contender. If they don’t, they will write checks to make it happen. Patience is wearing thin, especially with younger Wisconsin fans who’ve known nothing but winning until now.
Spending big doesn’t guarantee victories. But trying to win in the Big Ten by taking financial shortcuts isn’t a viable path. Wisconsin is finding out the hard way.
ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT
Jeremiah Smith gives the Buckeyes wings
Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith might have been the No. 1 pick if he’d been able to enter the NFL draft last year — as a true freshman! Luckily for the Buckeyes, they still have him this year and next year. Last week, he became the first college athlete to appear on a Red Bull can as part of an NIL deal with the energy company.
