Coaching Carousel
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Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
Bear Bryant & Joe Paterno come to mind
Their fan base is delusional
glad its on the other sideline for a change
Leonhard will be good but that is a Nebraska move
It would not be great to lose Walters, but let's be real, Bielema is a defensive minded coach who has built this team. I would not try to keep Walters over Bielema in any capacity and just make sure Walters contract has as steep a buyout without being unreasonable.
I'm more than a little worried that Bielema would take a call from UW after the season, now that he can't say Barry Alvarez is too controlling or whatever it was....
I'm more than a little worried that Bielema would take a call from UW after the season, now that he can't say Barry Alvarez is too controlling or whatever it was....
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
If you don't think Alvarez had a hand in this move, I've got a bridge to sell you.
The idea here is that they're handing the keys to Leonhard. Barring disaster this is his job going forward.
the national
- the Front Range
Totally agree. In many ways, this is a smart move. But, in a sport built on relationships, you can’t help but feel bad for Paul Chryst. Successful coach who had a bumpy start and just didn’t trend with on the field success. Their recruiting classes were very solid recently so I’m guessing the ship would have righted. But they really wanted Jim.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
This is Wisconsin’s Nebraska firing Bo Pelini moment. They had something pretty good but they just don’t understand that. They think they should be where OSU and Michigan and PSU are but they never have been that and they never will be. They were at a solid level for Wisconsin and got greedy. Good luck finding your way back up there.
Losing to Illinois gets your fired these days.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Looks like the WI AD McIntosh was gone to the NFL in 2000 before BB got there. So the link to Alvarez is there as his hand-picked successor as AD, after playing for him
aiwpfan
- Springfield, Il
And its stupid. Not Texas A&M stupid, but still stupid.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Chryst’s offense has been stale for 3 years and he was losing the locker room. Now they can see if Leonhard has the chops to be head coach during a trial run. If they don’t end up going with Leonard, there isn’t going to be a shortage of options for them come January.
seriously.
someone smarter than me, any recruits that might be swayed to reconsider the Illini in light of these events? if BB was cold calling peeps before Chryst was gone, i'd have to assume there'd be a different sense of urgency now
would love to go on a recruit raiding party after beating Iowa, NW, Purdont, etc.... drink your milk AND steal your lunch money
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I mean they were in a tricky spot.
Leonhard wasn't going to wait much longer. And forced into a choice between Chryst and Leonhard, it was increasingly clear who the value was.
If we exclude the Covid year, in Chryst's worst year he went 8-5/5-4. As a basis for comparison, Bielema had 2 years worse than this, and excluding his first 3 years, Alvarez had 6 years that were worse. This is worse than when Nebby fired Pelini; it's actually more like when they fired Solich
Leonhard's defense looks miles better with an offense that doesn't completely suck. If they even had a real ball control offense that actually did that their defense looks better.
Think Leonhard embraces the spread ball control similar to BB and they right that ship relatively quickly in the next year or two
Wouldn’t say I’m smarter than you but yes Wisky has 3 commitments that are priority targets for Illinois
This is a huge risk. Chryst had Wisky at their ceiling in terms of performance, and they could easily fall back into the middle of the pack or lower if Illinois continues to gain traction and Nebraska makes a good hire.
Wow.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Didn't they think they were getting Caleb Williams to transfer at QB after hiring Bobby Engram as OC and it just hasn't worked out so far?
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