Badgers fire Chryst, Jim Leonhard named interim head coach

Started by TomM, October 02, 2022, 09:45:43 PM

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TomM

Seek excellence and truth instead of fame -John Prime
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Ghetto

Great move for Wisconsin. While this won't change the mess this season has become, other future is now looking much brighter than it was.
As long as we are keeping score, I've got something to prove

Vir Fortis

Quote from: Ghetto on October 03, 2022, 09:20:25 PMGreat move for Wisconsin. While this won't change the mess this season has become, other future is now looking much brighter than it was.

Is it? I don't know that Chryst was the problem. They've got their best recruiting classes just making their way through the program right now(IIRC it was the '19,'20,'21 classes that were the 3 highest rated in UW History).

Maybe it's Chryst's fault for not moving Bostad back to the OL earlier, but...EVERYTHING is predicated off them being able to...ya know block people. To move the LOS, to give the QB a LITTLE time to throw the ball. I don't have any clue if Mertz is a good QB. He's never had time to throw. I'm fairly certain he's not Patrick Mahomes, but I don't know he's the terrible College QB that fans would have you believe. He's the type of QB who goes to the NFL and has more success than he had in College. He's still got a big, mobile frame with a nice arm. Hopefully 6 weeks in with Bostad the OL and the multiple 5 star recruits on it, hopefully they start to play to their talent level and more importantly as a unit and they're able to do simple things like pass off stunts.


They also have to give the Badgers the financial resources they need. Not just when it comes time to pay out 11M to a exiting HC, but recruiting. We can't spend less than every single power 5 conference in the Nation(plus several others) and really expect to compete with OSU. Our Budget for recruiting two years ago(So before they lost their top recruiter) was ~360K. The top CFP are spending 2.5M. We had a 4 star LBer on campus last year who's primary choice was Wisconsin. He was a Badger. Nobody knew. That's in part Chryst, but you can stretch a guy too thin.

Our recruiting started to DRASTICALLY improve in 2017. The first year of...Saeed Khalif. Now ranking recruiting classes is far from an exact science, but the Badgers were bringing in talent.

But when you lose the guy who coordinates all the recruits coming into a school and you don't replace him(and you lose him for 150K which is not a significant number, but it also kinda is in this context) and instead ask all the coaches on staff to cover for him, you're spreading your staff too thin.


So I get that Paul Chryst got all the crap for our last 25 games, but lets also keep in mind even after Barry Alvarez won 3 Rose Bowls and re-established this program, he had a 3 year run where he went 19-20.

The upside I get from this is they wanted to ensure they kept Jim Leonhard and apparently, this was an opportunity to make a move that was viewed as justified to give Leonhard a shot over the next 7 games which all appear very winnable.


But lets keep in mind all that Chryst did.

He had the Badgers sitting at 13-0 and within a TD from going to the CFB Playoffs.
He won 73% of his games.
The Badgers have 13 10 win seasons in their programs HISTORY.

As OC(2005-2011)-They had 5 and Chryst was viewed as one of the top OCs in CFB and they had some explosive passing attacks.
As HC(2015-2021)-They had 4 and 1 year was 2020, a Covid year, another was a 9 win season.


So maybe it was the right choice to move on and start the overhaul right now...the 300M dollar indoor facility should help the program and Leonhard has turned down MUCH more money and higher profile jobs(like the Packers job that I wish he'd have taken). So we're lucky in the sense that we went from one UW lifer to another UW lifer. For a program that's often a stepping stone for some coaches, we've been lucky with Barry, Chryst and now Leonhard. Of course, the program also generates as much revenue as all but 10 programs, so we really shouldn't be losing key personnel over 150K raise.


But to reiterate Jim Leonhard is an excellent replacement, I just think Chryst was unfairly treated just a bit.

Ghetto

Chryst was (and is) a very good coach. Something went stale there. I do think that his fate, sadly, was tied to Mertz, who has never lived up to the impossible hype that he had coming in.

A lot of it, like you said, has to do with the OL woes. Wisconsin's offense is built around the guys up front, and when that doesn't go, the rest of the game goes downhill quickly.

I just think that Leonhard, with his ties to the state, and his NFL experience, adds something to his resume and the perception of the program going forward.I wish he was the DC in Green Bay right now.
As long as we are keeping score, I've got something to prove

Vir Fortis

Quote from: Ghetto on October 13, 2022, 08:21:54 AMChryst was (and is) a very good coach. Something went stale there. I do think that his fate, sadly, was tied to Mertz, who has never lived up to the impossible hype that he had coming in.

A lot of it, like you said, has to do with the OL woes. Wisconsin's offense is built around the guys up front, and when that doesn't go, the rest of the game goes downhill quickly.

I just think that Leonhard, with his ties to the state, and his NFL experience, adds something to his resume and the perception of the program going forward.I wish he was the DC in Green Bay right now.

Yeah, if it was my world to manipulate and move the pieces around, Leonhard would be in GB right now, you'd give Chryst the rest of the year to see if he can get that OL working with Bostad back in charge of it(that does fall on Chryst...I know Rudolph was pretty successful, but you can't keep a guy like Bostad coaching LBers).

Then give Chryst another year or two, see if the OL can get fixed. You'd also be paying a lot less than 11M to get rid of him.

In the meantime, you'd have Leonhard and his man heavy scheme that comes with pressure from all over the place(which is suited VERY well to the Packers current personnel) rather than Barry and his constant soft shell D where he rushes 4 every play.

But, focusing on the positives, LaFleur gets more involved with the D as the season goes on and Leonhard, I think we can all agree, appears to be a very good fit.

Ghetto

Quote from: Vir Fortis on October 13, 2022, 11:24:24 PM
Quote from: Ghetto on October 13, 2022, 08:21:54 AMChryst was (and is) a very good coach. Something went stale there. I do think that his fate, sadly, was tied to Mertz, who has never lived up to the impossible hype that he had coming in.

A lot of it, like you said, has to do with the OL woes. Wisconsin's offense is built around the guys up front, and when that doesn't go, the rest of the game goes downhill quickly.

I just think that Leonhard, with his ties to the state, and his NFL experience, adds something to his resume and the perception of the program going forward.I wish he was the DC in Green Bay right now.

Yeah, if it was my world to manipulate and move the pieces around, Leonhard would be in GB right now, you'd give Chryst the rest of the year to see if he can get that OL working with Bostad back in charge of it(that does fall on Chryst...I know Rudolph was pretty successful, but you can't keep a guy like Bostad coaching LBers).

Then give Chryst another year or two, see if the OL can get fixed. You'd also be paying a lot less than 11M to get rid of him.

In the meantime, you'd have Leonhard and his man heavy scheme that comes with pressure from all over the place(which is suited VERY well to the Packers current personnel) rather than Barry and his constant soft shell D where he rushes 4 every play.

But, focusing on the positives, LaFleur gets more involved with the D as the season goes on and Leonhard, I think we can all agree, appears to be a very good fit.

If you can stand the cuss words, these guys talk Packer football every week. That Dale guy is kind of a clown, but if there are some nuggets in there worth listening to.

http://bit.ly/avgcheesespotify
As long as we are keeping score, I've got something to prove

Vir Fortis

Quote from: Ghetto on October 14, 2022, 02:24:25 PM
Quote from: Vir Fortis on October 13, 2022, 11:24:24 PM
Quote from: Ghetto on October 13, 2022, 08:21:54 AMChryst was (and is) a very good coach. Something went stale there. I do think that his fate, sadly, was tied to Mertz, who has never lived up to the impossible hype that he had coming in.

A lot of it, like you said, has to do with the OL woes. Wisconsin's offense is built around the guys up front, and when that doesn't go, the rest of the game goes downhill quickly.

I just think that Leonhard, with his ties to the state, and his NFL experience, adds something to his resume and the perception of the program going forward.I wish he was the DC in Green Bay right now.

Yeah, if it was my world to manipulate and move the pieces around, Leonhard would be in GB right now, you'd give Chryst the rest of the year to see if he can get that OL working with Bostad back in charge of it(that does fall on Chryst...I know Rudolph was pretty successful, but you can't keep a guy like Bostad coaching LBers).

Then give Chryst another year or two, see if the OL can get fixed. You'd also be paying a lot less than 11M to get rid of him.

In the meantime, you'd have Leonhard and his man heavy scheme that comes with pressure from all over the place(which is suited VERY well to the Packers current personnel) rather than Barry and his constant soft shell D where he rushes 4 every play.

But, focusing on the positives, LaFleur gets more involved with the D as the season goes on and Leonhard, I think we can all agree, appears to be a very good fit.

If you can stand the cuss words, these guys talk Packer football every week. That Dale guy is kind of a clown, but if there are some nuggets in there worth listening to.

http://bit.ly/avgcheesespotify


I'm definitely checking it out! You see Barry's latest comments? Seems like once again it's dawned on him...maybe he should be a bit more aggressive with Jaire, Stokes, Douglas...and company.


Ghetto

It's dawned on just about everyone else at this point...

All 3 corners were built to play press man to man. Having a guy like Stokes, who ran a 4.3, sitting 10 yards off the ball, seems like a tremendous waste of talent.
As long as we are keeping score, I've got something to prove