Luke Fickell is steering clear of his own Bill Belichick- style controversy with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Before the game against Ohio State, NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler from The Athletic posted on X (formely Twitter) a report about NFL scouts not being allowed to come to Wisconsin practices.
He claimed that has brought more scouts to Badgers games, because of their lack of access to practice.
Fickell has been shutting NFL scouts out of practice so games are the only chance for teams to get eyes on Wisconsin players in person. https://t.co/BlKgL3vw2S
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) October 18, 2025
Eight different NFL teams had scouts present for the Badgers 34-0 loss to the Buckeyes.
After the game, Fickell was asked about the report and denied it thoroughly.
“No, we have NFL scouts there almost every single day,” he said. “Maybe they can’t watch the whole practice on a Wednesday, but my goodness, we don’t even have much of a restriction.
Luke Fickell denied this report: https://t.co/7skVzmLHqL pic.twitter.com/dSYrnYvk7Z
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) October 18, 2025
The head coach said the team had one particular week where he didn’t want a whole slew of scouts at practice on a particular Wednesday, but that was the only limitation he’s had on scouts at practice.
He even mentioned Belichick by name in trying to downplay the controversy.
“We’ve got other things to worry about,” Fickell said. “I don’t want to get into some Bill Belichick type of scouting situation.”
The reference is to North Carolina’s head coach not allowing New England Patriots scouts into the facility over hard feelings from Belichick’s former team.
Scouts had been present during Wisconsin’s fall and spring practices, so the report from Brugler came as a surprise to the beat reporters covering the Badgers.
Brugler is well connected in the NFL scouting community. Perhaps this was just a miscommunication over an isolated week of practice where Fickell wanted to tone things down.
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