I think what the people making this decision would argue is that losing Leonhard, potentially within the conference, was a bigger risk.
I would exclude PSU from thay grouping. In B1G tiers it's is
Define disaster. What would it take to cause them to open a search.
I understand that if the offense can't stay on the field, the defense may be negatively affected. But Wisconsin's defense has been more than affected this year.....it has been bad (see "Points Allowed" stats below). Leonard's defenses have been strong in the past several years. But the Wisconsin defensive results so far this year are with his schemes and his recruits. Seems risky to hand him the keys with this year's defensive play results.
A fair question. I'm not sure.
I’m old enough to remember when Wisconsin was a doormat and young enough to see it again.
Me, too. Looking forward to it.
That's very fair. All the press and reporting has been that Leonhard is a great recruiter and several seasons is more than enough to give him some leeway this year.
I’m not sure if they expect to be at Ohio St level, but they do expect to be closer to them than Illinois. Truth is most programs — and especially the fans — when they have success, they expect to build upon that and take next step. It just ain’t that easy, but that doesn’t temper expectations. Heck, I remember seeing posts on here after Illini bball lost last year in tournament that if BU didn’t get Illini to Sweet 16 or better over next couple years that maybe we should look elsewhere for a coach.
I didn't catch the "much smaller number" comment, just that they had reached agreement. And the reporter said he had heard $16M to $19M.
Why would Chryst agree to a smaller number? I wonder if there is some dirt we aren't aware of yet?
It's real hard to move up to the next tier in football. Not that many teams have done it really. My guess is that with Chryst that there's a sense things will go backwards. Teams like Illinois and Wisconsin can't afford to go backwards because getting back into contention is a tough process.
Actually, it was long regarded as a giant mistake that Nebraska didn't give Pelini the job when they fired Frank Solich and he made a big push for it as the DC/Interim. Hiring him a few years later was thought to be "fixing" that error.
It's definitely a panicked decision. By any accounting, Chryst is a good to very good coach. They are having an off year this year, but there is no reason to think UW wouldn't rebound next year. In terms of consistent success, he's been better than both Alvarez and Bielema. I'm not sure how much better they can get under Leonhard, and there is a lot of potential downside if he ends up being the next Lou Tepper.
