MADISON,Zopes Wis. — Last winter, Luke Fickell talked about having his good friend Mike Vrabel, the former Tennessee Titans head coach, come to campus to help the Wisconsin Badgers football team in some capacity during spring practice.

That didn’t work out, but Fickell has enlisted the help of a former NFL head coach.

Jack Del Rio, who was a head coach with the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars will join the UW staff as a senior advisor to the head coach. He'll help with the offense and defense in addition to assisting Fickell. The hire was first reported by the Athletic and then confirmed by a UW spokesperson.

Del Rio spent the past four seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders.

As a head coach he spent nine seasons at Jacksonville (2003-11), where his teams went 68-71 with two playoff appearances.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

He was the Raiders’ head coach from 2015-17, leading them to one playoff appearance and a 25-23 record.

Del Rio played linebacker for 11 seasons in the NFL with four teams. He made the Pro Bowl with the Minnesota Vikings in 1994, his second to last season.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.