Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
do you believe Leipold was on Whitmans short list had discussions with Bielema not worked out ?
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Until Alvarez got there, Wisky had been fairly similar to Illinois, but with lower peaks. Since the division system started they have benefited from not having to deal with OSU/UM/PSU every year and Illinois and Nebraska being dumpster fires. Assuming Nebraska hires someone decent and what we are seeing out of Bielema is sustainable, Wisky will return to being an average program, regardless of who the coach is. I think their fan base perceives them as being in OSU/UM/PSU's strata; they aren't and never will be.
He was as was Freeman. Glad it didn't go that way(Nothing against LL either). It was BB from the start though.
This is very reassuring - it should give us confidence in his ability to judge talent and that he has learned from the Lovie debacle.
What unimaginably good luck to have both Bielema and Underwood fall into our lap (though I must admit that when they hired Bielema I said "Not that retread!"), based on his performance at Arkansas. I've totally revised my thinking on him.
I LOVE the fact that they both have built (and keep building) dynamite staffs and then rely on them. I've never seen such excellent quality staffs (Lovie's son for DC???) for both football and basketball.
I'll bet Track and Field is set to go through the same iteration. And, let's hope, Women's Basketball!
Illini on the rise! I'm proud of our school. Our AD is the best....
This is surprising to me with the idea that there are far more knee jerk resistant people around the Wisky FB program than at Nebby/Auburn/Texas and the like.
But I guess not. Their remaining schedule has 7 winnable games on it. They could easily go 6-1 in the remaining games to get to 8-4 with Chryst at HC. It would seem to be the smart thing to do to let more of the season play out before making a decision.
But I guess not. Their remaining schedule has 7 winnable games on it. They could easily go 6-1 in the remaining games to get to 8-4 with Chryst at HC. It would seem to be the smart thing to do to let more of the season play out before making a decision.
Re: Ryan Walters, I think the best scenario for him would be a top tier G5 school that’s made serious investments in their football programs recently and are in recruiting hot beds. Three that come to mind are Coastal Carolina, TX-San Antonio and Alabama-Birmingham.
UTSA and UAB are about to jump up conferences. CC’s and UTSA’s head coaches are going to be among the top of the lists for the next P5 coaching openings. And UAB currently has an interim coach because their long-time guy retired unexpectedly over the summer due to health issues.
UTSA and UAB are about to jump up conferences. CC’s and UTSA’s head coaches are going to be among the top of the lists for the next P5 coaching openings. And UAB currently has an interim coach because their long-time guy retired unexpectedly over the summer due to health issues.
If they ultimately want Leonhard to be the guy then and you let Chryst finish out and he does pull off 8-4 then is makes it harder to fire him.
I get that but if you want Leonhard to be the guy why extend Chryst and tack on a $16m buyout? The whole series of events is weird.
I think debacle is too strong of a word. Lovie did what most of us were hoping for at the time except win. The hire gave some credibility that Illinois was ready to play big boy ball. It also drove up donations for renovations and the Smith Center. As we can see on the field now, Lovie's staff had an eye for some underrated talent as well. They may not have been able to coach them up to this level, but they at least got it here. You also knew Lovie wasn't going to make a mockery of you department either. I don't know for sure, but would imagine that all of this helped to get BB in the door and eventually take the job. Don't think someone like that was a legit option after Cubit was hired. Lovie may not have been able to turn the ship around, but he kept it from finding itself at the ocean floor.
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
Not to mention the recruiting dynamics. I think WI has benefitted greatly from pulling upper midwest recruits that don't get the attention/rankings they deserve purely due to not being in recruiting hotbeds. Add to that a large, recruit-rich state bordering to the south where the in-state program hasn't done well in decades (and, for a while, had all but abandoned aggressively recruiting in-state). With MN and IL both on the uptrend, that strategy is getting a whole lot tougher (and I think you're already seeing some of the impact of it this year).
Yup. They just panicked
I think the notion that there's an endless source of money is crazy. Flat out these buyouts limit the amount of NIL money you can put together. The imperative for change in Nebraska wasn't so great that they couldn't wait two weeks. The idea that Leonhard is so good they can't chance him leaving is ridiculous in my opinion. Wisconsin is a solid program who can fill coordinator and head coaching positions with good talent. Perhaps great.
Not to mention, if Leonhard is so awesome that you need to swallow a 16 million buyout then he's awesome enough to be stolen away by another school.
Not to mention, if Leonhard is so awesome that you need to swallow a 16 million buyout then he's awesome enough to be stolen away by another school.
It is considerably lower than 16 Million. CHryst and Wisky agreed to a new buyout
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
UW a bit slow to change this glowing page concerning its (former) head coach.
uwbadgers.com
Despite the opening line, Wisconsin football apparently ceased to "thrive under Paul Chryst's leadership" at some point between 11 a.m. CT Saturday and Sunday afternoon:
Paul Chryst | Football Coach | Wisconsin Badgers
Paul Chryst was relieved of head coaching duties on October 2, 2022 when Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh announced that Jim Leonhard would become the Badgers' interim
uwbadgers.com
Despite the opening line, Wisconsin football apparently ceased to "thrive under Paul Chryst's leadership" at some point between 11 a.m. CT Saturday and Sunday afternoon:
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I accept that opinion, and you may very well prove to be right. But this didn't just get invented last week, this has been a simmering back burner conversation in Badgerland for a few years now. He's the best DC in the country at this point and a candidate for any open position, though it's always been obvious he covets the job he's now gotten.
Last season started similarly for them, the wheels were teetering at 1-3, and then Leonhard's defense saved their bacon.
If that's going to happen again, they want to move forward with the prodigy who bleeds Velveeta at the helm. It goes down easier now than it would if HC Chryst just finished an 8-4 season or whatever.
Interesting the Colorado AD is former Illini Rick George. I believe he was contacted before we hired Josh. I still can’t believe what a difference Josh Whitman has made.
Colorado coaching candidates: Bronco Mendenhall, Troy Calhoun lead options to replace Karl Dorrell
The Buffaloes' coaching search may be one of the most intriguing this cyclewww.cbssports.com
Colorado and Walters. He is too good. He played for them
I inquired before the game whether Chryst was UW’s Bruce Weber and I still think the analogy holds:
1. Took over a program that was humming and won big early
2. A safe, loyal hire who was unlikely to ever leave after a hot shot coach bolted for seemingly greener pastures
3. A “system guy” who seems unwilling to change/adapt
4. As a purely X’s and O’s guy, probably unmatched. But lacks the charisma/charm/leadership etc you’d like to see in a figurehead/CEO of a big time program.
5. After big initial splash, plateaued and was stuck in “does well enough to keep his job” zone.
I actually give UW credit for making this move now. On paper, it’s absurd to fire a coach that’s won 70% of his games. But the vast majority of that winning occurred some time ago and the program has been trending in the wrong direction for a few years. Would be analogous to us firing Weber after the 2009-10 season, which we probably should have done.
Question is Leonard the guy to turn it around. From what I’ve seen he seems to check more boxes in the Weber/Chryst column than the Alvarez/Bielema/BU etc column. And in this era of transfer portal/NIL, I’m not sure the Weber/Chryst guys can thrive like they have in the past. We will see. But I’m thrilled with where both of our programs are headed.
1. Took over a program that was humming and won big early
2. A safe, loyal hire who was unlikely to ever leave after a hot shot coach bolted for seemingly greener pastures
3. A “system guy” who seems unwilling to change/adapt
4. As a purely X’s and O’s guy, probably unmatched. But lacks the charisma/charm/leadership etc you’d like to see in a figurehead/CEO of a big time program.
5. After big initial splash, plateaued and was stuck in “does well enough to keep his job” zone.
I actually give UW credit for making this move now. On paper, it’s absurd to fire a coach that’s won 70% of his games. But the vast majority of that winning occurred some time ago and the program has been trending in the wrong direction for a few years. Would be analogous to us firing Weber after the 2009-10 season, which we probably should have done.
Question is Leonard the guy to turn it around. From what I’ve seen he seems to check more boxes in the Weber/Chryst column than the Alvarez/Bielema/BU etc column. And in this era of transfer portal/NIL, I’m not sure the Weber/Chryst guys can thrive like they have in the past. We will see. But I’m thrilled with where both of our programs are headed.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Yeah so coming off a 9-4 season and winning their bowl game, and then their three losses this year are to tOSU (#3) and two other teams that will be ranked soon, I have to ask WT(actual)F? Of course we know how good we are
, but that Wazzou team is vastly underrated too. They went toe to toe with the Ducks (who are admittedly a bit overrated IMO but still VG), and have soundly beat everyone else they played. By the end of the year these will be losses to three ranked teams. They obviously need to show improvement but to think the next guy is better than Chryst (for the points you made above) seems like a very bad bet indeed.I respectfully disagree. I'm one of the people who was originally thrilled when Lovie was hired but he turned out to be a fraud and a disaster. Bad coaching, boring personality, lack of effort, outrageous nepotism and cronyism in his hiring decisions, stubborn and predictable, and a lack of understanding of how to plan and execute a cohesive recruiting plan suitable for the current landscape in college football. I'll concede your point that he was not likely to cause a scandal, but that's a pretty low floor for a head coach.
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
There is essentially zero chance of Kansas being his last job.
I think you’re both right. As a coach he was for the most part bad. But as a “figure head,” for lack of a better phrase, he did seem to give some credibility to the program and helped increase fundraising. Of course, it would have been nice if he could have done all the things you mention too. But how many complete package coaches were beating down the door then? With all of his shortcomings (and there were plenty), he did get the program to the point that the BB hiring was possible.
I respectfully disagree with your respectful disagreement.
I think Smith largely did what he was hired to do: turn a roaring dumpster fire of a program into merely a bad football team.
I think that if there had been no COVID, Illinois had played its weak 2020 non conference schedule, and hadn’t been down half its offense for the Purdue game, Smith might have eked into a 2nd consecutive bowl game and gotten an extension instead of fired.
I think it’s to Whitman’s credit that he jumped on the opportunity to improve the program, move on from Smith, and bring in Bielema.
Still, I don’t think we’re looking at a candidate of Bielema’s quality if Whitman had let Cubit flounder for another season and then made his first coaching hire.
If Curt Cignetti is ready to move up from James Madison after successfully managing the transition to I-A, that might be a good spot.
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