Yeah--a lot of things to be said about Harbaugh, including heavy doses of the cheating scandal, but the guy could coach football. And he did everywhere that he went.
There seems to be an undercurrent around the Wisconsin football program that it, including the Athletic Department and its best donors, doesn't really want to spend the money associated with being a top-tier program. That feels like the thing that is keeping Fickell in place. Now, apparently Wisconsin is doing fine on the NIL side of things--in the top 25 or 30 programs, or so I hear. So that's not the big problem. But willingness to spend other money on the program seems to be low.
Or McIntosh really thinks that Fickell deserves more time. But what has Fickell done that has suggested that?