Coaching Carousel (Football)
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Still funny they fired Chryst coming off a 9 win season for starting 2-3 ...for this. I get that they will have 10th choice, I just don't know how you keep Fickell.
I would pray Iowa doesn't open and make Fitzy say no. ...and ensure an adult is in the locker room to stop the sexual assault.
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Truly idiotic move on their end
Ego can afflict an entire school with the delusion that they’re just one miracle coach away from the pinnacle. Cignetti’s success will inspire more programs to roll the dice and chuck their coaches to the curb. The carousel is entertaining.
Firing Chryst was one of those things that seemed dumb even at the time. Same with UNC firing Mack Brown.
I may be remembering this wrong, but wasn't part of the reason they fired Chryst because they wanted to promote Leonhard to HC so they wouldn't lose him, and they didn't want to wait because the back half of the schedule was easier and they thought Chryst would win enough to make firing him harder? And then they ended up not keeping Leonhard anyway and making this disastrous hire?
Amazing. 10/10, no notes.
Has he ever had to rebuild? At ND and LSU, you just keep rolling out the talent. Wisky would be a completely differnet animal.
I hope he just goes away and invests his $54M in the next Enron.
He did at Central Michigan. Took over a program that was regularly winning 4 or fewer games a season and went 9-4 in year 3, which was his last (they won the bowl game to go 10-4 but he didn't coach that game). Then he took a ho-hum Cincinnati program and won 10+ games 3 years in a row. Even ND probably counts because Charlie Weiss had that program in a really bad place at the time.
Not quite the same as doing it in the Big Ten, and not quite the same doing it in your 60s vs in your 40s.
I'd agree LSU & ND are different caliber in their ability to attract talent, but Fickell has brought in the 26th, 25th classes the last 2 years. Presumably there's some talent there.
LSU the 2 years before:
ND the 3 years before:
Cincy I thought was a rebuild, but he inherited Dantonio's 8 win team and took it up a notch (including bringing in the Kelce bros).
Generally though, he could go away and I'd be fine with it.
Two part post:
1. Interesting perspective on Wisky. I’m inclined to agree with you, but boy that’s not what I’d want as a Badger fan. I do think that if they pony up, they might not have the coin to go after a dog as big as they’d want, which could spiral them even further.
2. A lot of us (myself included) need some perspective adjustment on this year. It’s valid to be disappointed in missing the CFP and complain about the defensive woes. But it’s also important to note that to even be in that running 8 weeks deep into the season is still a massive step forward for the program. The wheels haven’t fallen off, we’ve still got good momentum, a really good recruiting class coming in, and a (regardless of individuals) competent staff.
There’s a lot to be played for this year, ending with 8/9 wins is beyond possible and a good season, albeit disappointing.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
In a world of Tessios, Illinois has had to fire a few Fredos.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Was listening to a Wisconsin podcast the other day and one of their “insiders” was pretty confident that Fickell would be given another year. The only exception would be if the AD were to be ousted, then of course, all bets are off.
I’ve said for awhile the Fickle will be back for this reason. Even if you wait a year you’ll still be hiring the coach you would’ve year.
I’m guessing Lashlee, Campbell, Sumral, Giles, Diaz..etc will all be gone. They would be better off trying to get someone like James Franklin while he’s available.
It's going to be Seth Wallace, especially if Ferentz has his way. Not that big of a secret in Iowa circles. Iowa gave him a huge raise/title bump to AHC to keep him when Minnesota was looking for a DC. He was also the interim when Ferentz was suspended
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mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
I would be very happy if Diaz leaves Duke for Illinois reasons.
What if Sark leaves Texas for the NFL, would Kwiatkowski jump ship and possibly come here?
I don’t think he will be at duke next year
Indiana Jones
- Warsaw, Indiana
Fickell was considered a homerun hire by damn near everyone. Clearly, damn near everyone was wrong.
His first mistake was hiring Longo and running air raid in Wisconsin. The Jeff Grimes hire was also bad
is Arch gonna leave UT if Sark leaves ?
This carousel has been bananas already and I’ve been loving the speculation about who will go where. The more I think about who would fit well at the current (or potential) B1G openings, I keep coming back to these conclusions in my head:
Big Game James -> Michigan State
Pat Fitzgerald -> Wisconsin
Brian Kelly -> Penn State
On a related note: I’ve been rooting on Brian Kelly’s downfall ever since that embarrassing introductory press conference (and leaving the Midwest for the south). I feel like he would do well back where he would have some time to build rather than the SEC where delusions of grandeur give the AD’s a quick trigger.
Big Game James -> Michigan State
Pat Fitzgerald -> Wisconsin
Brian Kelly -> Penn State
On a related note: I’ve been rooting on Brian Kelly’s downfall ever since that embarrassing introductory press conference (and leaving the Midwest for the south). I feel like he would do well back where he would have some time to build rather than the SEC where delusions of grandeur give the AD’s a quick trigger.
In what way were they backsliding? Excluding the Covid year they won 9 and 10 games in his last 2 full years at UW; he won 3 West titles and came in 2nd 3 other times in 6 non-Covid seasons. He was a Wisconsin guy through and through. Firing him was as dumb as Nebraska firing Solich
The guy had never won less than 8 games in a full season and they fired him 5 games into the season. The combined record of the 3 teams he lost to before he was fired ended up being 26-12.
Very much not the same as Zook. They jumped the gun.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
The record was masking a metric slide. The year he was fired was their worst season in the 21st century and that's with things stablizing after Chryst's firing.
Winning the West was no longer their goal, as they correctly identified that the goalposts were about to move, becoming more difficult to reach the title game. They bet big on modernizing their scheme to try to become a national title contender and that gamble was a spectacular failure, but that does not mask that their trajectory was already on the descent.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Fitz in Wisky could be a problem. His revenge tour would be interesting, or maybe he would have problems recruiting with the past issues.
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