The Big Ten doesn’t hand out patience very often. With three different conference teams winning the national championship over the past three seasons, the pressure on coaches is baked in from the start. And after four coaching changes in the league a year ago, it’s clear the churn isn’t slowing down.
Looking ahead to 2026, there’s already a sense that more movement is coming. Some coaches are fighting to keep their jobs.
Others could win enough to get courted somewhere else. A few names stand out.
At Maryland, Mike Locksley has been around long enough to feel like part of the furniture. He was the Terrapins’ offensive coordinator and interim head coach in 2015 before getting the full-time job in 2019.
Now entering his eighth season, he’s sitting on a 37-49 record and is coming off consecutive 4-8 finishes. Maryland’s ongoing tug-of-war between basketball and football for resources has made life harder, but the recent results are still tough to defend.
Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell is in a different kind of pressure cooker. Plenty of people believed he should have been gone after last season, but the Badgers kept him and poured more into the roster instead.
Even so, the numbers haven’t been kind: he’s 17-21 through three seasons in Madison. Quarterback play has been a huge part of the problem, and Wisconsin is again trying to solve it with Colton Joseph, who arrives from Old Dominion after completing 59.7 percent of his passes for 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Fickell needs that move - and the rest of the roster work - to pay off.
On the other side of the equation, Jedd Fisch looks like the kind of coach other schools will keep watching. He’s already made one conference-to-conference jump, leaving Pac-12 Arizona for Pac-12 Washington before the Huskies moved into the Big Ten.
He also, apparently, took a run at the Florida job before deciding to stay put. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does tell you Fisch is open to a bigger opportunity if the right one comes along.
A strong season would only sharpen that attention.
David Braun is another name that could draw interest. He stepped into Northwestern during a scandal, and the expectation was that the Wildcats would collapse.
They didn’t. Instead, they went 8-5 and earned him the permanent job.
Three seasons later, Braun is 19-19 with two bowl wins in what might be the toughest job in the conference. He’s only 41, and if he puts together another good year, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a better-resourced program comes calling.
In Other News...
Vita Vea May Be Headed For A Stunning NFL Change
Vita Vea has been a fixture in Tampa Bay since the Buccaneers drafted him in 2018, and the veteran defensive tackles next move is suddenly a real conversation. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Vea is in the final year of his contract after building a rsum that includes two Pro Bowl nods and a Super Bowl ring, making him one of the more accomplished players to come out of the University of Washington in recent years.
For Washington fans, the intrigue is obvious because Veas football roots still matter here, and any change in his NFL home would mark a major shift for a player who has spent his entire pro career in one place. The contract situation adds another layer to watch, with his status now sitting at a point where the Buccaneers and the rest of the league have to weigh what comes next for a premier interior defender. [Read more 🡒]
Washington May Have Found The Perimeter Help Fans Were Waiting For
Washingtons search for more perimeter help got another name on the board with the addition of transfer guard Harun Zrno, a late roster move that gives Danny Sprinkle another option to work with as the Huskies keep shaping the backcourt. Zrno arrives after one season at Rutgers, where he logged 34 appearances and 15 starts, and he also brings professional experience from Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding a different kind of background to a Washington roster still trying to find the right mix.
Sprinkle pointed to Zrnos size, shooting ability and versatility as traits that can fit in several spots, which is exactly the sort of profile a team in need of perimeter stability tends to chase. The question now is how quickly that skill set translates in Seattle, and how much of an immediate role Zrno can carve out once Washington gets deeper into the offseason work. [Read more 🡒]