Football COACHING CAROUSEL 2022: Paul Chryst out at Wisconsin; Jim Leonhard taking over as interim
- Thread starter Dylan Callaghan-Croley
- Start date
Gotta give Wisconsin credit here. They needed to make that move. Leonhard likely keeps the job permanently as well.
Agreed on all accounts - I wasn't sure they would fire Chryst but could imagine a "mutual parting of ways" was actually discussing that with a group of friends this morning. Didn't expect it to be today necessarily.
Think Leonhard could be a good HC there.
Between Nebraska, Wisconsin and now Colorado it shows the difficulty recruiting the plains states.
Then there is Kansas, K State, and Iowa St turning the corner.
The portal and NIL are killing CFB, somehow each school has to survive it.
Then there is Kansas, K State, and Iowa St turning the corner.
The portal and NIL are killing CFB, somehow each school has to survive it.
In theory, the portal should be helping teams like Kansas and Nebraska. Guys that are good but don't want to sit at Bama need to go somewhere.
As far as I'm concerned, the traitor can stay there or go anywhere else but PSU as long as he doesn't go to Ohio State or Michigan. Unless he's actually a 5-star player or at least as good as his Dad was, in which case welcome to PSU, Nolan!
65-23 overall, 43-16 conference record, 6-1 bowl record, three big 10 championship games. Not a bad run him
Gonna have to disagree here. This is a crazy move IMO.
I’ll wager there’s no way Leonard goes 67-26 thru his first 93 games
He started strong but that conference record is inflated by playing in a very weak west division. Also, it was 3 Big Ten Champions game losses and I doubt any AD cares about a bowl record these days. Their record in the Big Ten title games is far more meaningful than bowl games.
He has to fix things so the rest of this year and next year could be rough but Chryst needed to go. The longer you keep an underachieving coach the harder it is to recover. Kudos to Wisconsin. And, let's be real, a huge motivating factor here was they were afraid Leonhard was going to leave.
Underachieving?? It’s Wisconsin, not Ohio State
I mean he won 9 games last season in a “down” year.
The expectation at Wisconsin is to win the West yearly--right?
8-4 last year with a meaningless bowl win
His wins this year are Illinois State and NMSU. Lost at home to Wazzu and Illinois by 24. Again, lost to Illinois by 24 at home.
Just because we accept mediocrity doesn't mean other programs should or do
This is what Nebraska did when 8 wins wasn't good enough. It's often a downward spiral.
Barry fires you if you don’t win his hand picked division. How he ever became Delaney’s right hand man and pulled that crap off is beyond me.
And it may be but that's a risk worth taking
Being mediocre at Wisconsin shouldn't be a goal. They're not Northwestern
Unless Leonhard can uptick the recruiting, I'm not sure firing Paul to promote Jim is some big positive. Does Engram want to modernize the offense and Chryst wouldn't allow it?
Biggest problem I see is they got a big time (for Wisky) QB recruit and he's not very good at having the game be on him vs the typical game manager model they've long used (minus Russell Wilson). You have an identity. Big, strong OL. RBs thrive there. It's a tough thing to break from.
Biggest problem I see is they got a big time (for Wisky) QB recruit and he's not very good at having the game be on him vs the typical game manager model they've long used (minus Russell Wilson). You have an identity. Big, strong OL. RBs thrive there. It's a tough thing to break from.
Leonhard's first two games are Northwestern and Michigan State--they at least gave him a shot to start off strong. Honestly, Wisconsin's schedule the rest of the way isn't tough at all.
A 6-3 BIG record could win the West. Wisky is 0-2 and I don't see them going 6-1 rest of the way.
This is definitely a grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence...... Leonard has never been a Head Coach - being a successful position coach or DC is vastly different than being a successful Head Coach. Beyond that, his defense is part of the problem in Wisco's recent slide in performance - they've given up 86 points over the last 2 weeks. Then again, they've only made him Interim Coach - they'll probably see how he does the remainder of the year, but if they keep free-falling, I seriously doubt they make him the New Permanent Coach.
Agreed. Now I may be wrong here but i feel like in big games it tends to be their defense that let’s them down…. Not athletic enough
they have a system on offense that is certainly not dynamic but it’s been effective. Where I think they struggle is in the back 7 on D
Yeah, this just seems like a bizarre move. Wisconsin has been as good with Chryst as they have been with anyone else. Sure they can try to get some ethereal coach that will get them to win the Big 10 championship or make the playoffs but it seems much more likely that the next head coach will slide the program backwards and be even worse and that’s how you spiral into mediocrity like Nebraska. Sure if Urban Meyer is coming in, I’d get it but it’s basically a crapshoot that they’ll be any better going forward.
Also, what’s up with firing coaching so early in the season? Is there some significant advantage to it? I guess the idea is to help recruiting maybe but how is having an interim coach and who knows whose coming in be a better situation for recruits to sign with?
No, I don't think they do either. I'm curious to see how Leonhard does. I do think he'll be a good head coach. Although I was thrilled when we hired Franklin so....
In this case, I think it's the fact that they want to get a look at how Leonard does as the HC... Leonard is a "darling" in Madison and I think they want to make him HC, but they can't do it without some idea of how he's going to fare in the position - this gives them that "free look". If Wisconsin continues to struggle and free-fall, I doubt they make him permanent.
Can you imagine this board if CJF was fired and the guy who got roasted for 86 points the last two weeks was promoted? I’d pay extra to see that meltdown.
If Franklin was fired then Manny Diaz likely takes over until the end of the year but if the person that took over was a star player at Penn State this board would be ecstatic even if he had ran a defense that gave up 120 points the prior two weeks. People were happy when they thought we were hiring Golden lol
Outside of OSU, what was tough about their opening slate?
Illinois and Wazzou looked more like wins 5 weeks ago than Purdue, Sparty, and Minnesota did, no?
Nothing which is why Chryst is gone. We know I don't think much of any of those teams unless Minnesota gets Ibrahim back
Not a Chryst fan and things definitely look to be in decline up there this year but I highly doubt whoever they bring in will have a better record or run there than he did. Have to guess this is about keeping Jim Leohnard but seems like a crazy move.
That's what got him canned, the terrible start. They won't get someone any better. I think the fact that he has no personality and no charisma did not help.
This is almost Nebraska-firing-Solich-level crazy. Maybe more, since Solich at least had some skeletons in his closet. May they reap what they sow.
Illinois and Wazzou are roughly as good as Purdue. The team that Penn State was fortunate to beat.
Add in Ohio State, and that was a very tough opening five games.
