Just weeks after losing Mike Brown to Notre Dame after Marcus Freeman abruptly fired Chansi Stuckey as the Fighting Irish's wide receivers coach, Wisconsin and Luke Fickell have found their new coach for the position.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Kenny Guiton, the former Ohio State standout who played for Luke Fickell in the Buckeyes program, will take over Brown's vacated role as wide receivers coach in Fickell's Wisconsin Badgers program.
Guiton spent the past three seasons at Arkansas, where he climbed through various tasks for Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman; Guiton's work culminated across the back half of the 2023 season as the program's interim offensive coordinator after Pittman fired Dan Enos amidst the Hogs's putrid offensive output.
A former quarterback for the Buckeyes, who saw Fickell as both a top defensive assistant and the team's interim head coach after Jim Tressell was fired by OSU, Guiton turned his sporadic collegiate playing career into some professional opportunities.
After Guiton did not last with the Buffalo Bills, he was a contributor for the Los Angeles KISS of the Arena Football League.
Once his pro career ended, Guiton honed his coaching career with four seasons at the University of Houston -- where he climbed from graduate assistant to full-time, on-field assistant -- and then had stints at Colorado State and Louisiana Tech that preceded his run on Pittman's Arkansas staffs.
Guiton was a popular assistant with the Razorbacks, and he was heralded for the job he did under difficult circumstances once Pittman had parted ways with Enos.
The Badgers in their first season under Fickell earned a berth in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida, opposite LSU; the two teams kick off on New Year's Day.
Wisconsin in set to open its 2024 season with non-conference tilts against Western Michigan and South Dakota before it hosts Alabama in a major intersectional contest inside Camp Randall Stadium; two weeks later, the Badgers are set to face the USC Trojans as Lincoln Riley's program begins its transition from the PAC-12 into the Big Ten Conference.
Brown had previously coached with Fickell at the University of Cincinnati and followed Fickell a year ago to Wisconsin, where Brown had commanded a multi-year salary worth at least $550,000. Sources told FootballScoop that Notre Dame paid a minimum of an $50,000 buyout to hire away Brown from the Badgers.
Notre Dame faces Oregon State later this week in the Sun Bowl.