Can't say it came as a total shock yesterday during the Green Bay Packer game, when the scroll across the top of the screen reported Paul Chryst had been released as head coach of the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team.
Released. Now there's a polite, Midwest way of saying fired, isn't it? And this just days after Chryst got a vote of confidence from Athletic Director Chris McIntosh (in many circles, pro and college, that's usually the kiss of death and code to start packing.) Wisconsin is not a school that takes firing a coach lightly. This is only the first in 33 years, since Don Morton deservedly got the axe in 1989. Other colleges seem to have revolving doors for the position (Nebraska, for example), but it's just not the Wisconsin Way.
My thinking is that Chryst had lost the locker room and gave his boss no choice. The lack of effort in the 34-10 loss to Illinois at home Saturday was just plain embarrassing. Have never seen a Badger team get so man-handled (by someone other than Ohio State) before. Just seemed like the heart went right out of them
Here's a Badger team that features one of the best running backs in college football picking up just two yards in 24 attempts (quarterback sack yardage comes off running totals in college, not passing totals as in the NFL). And sophomore Braylon Allen, that stellar runner, accounted for two yards on eight carries!
It's no wonder that McIntosh, on the job for all of 15 month, pulled the trigger five games into Chryst's seventh season. A Badger alum, Chryst had posted a 67-26 record in those seven-plus seasons (43-18 in the Big 10). In the world of coaching, it's more what have you done for me lately than history. Keep in mind that, tho he had won 72% of his games (third-best in Wisconsin history), he was 34-7 in his first 41 games and just 33-19 since.
Still, he'll get a good buyout from the UW and will land on his feet, I'm confident of that.
Which brings us to the next man up, interim head coach Jimmy Leonard, the highly successful and respected defensive coordinator now given the reins of the program and the tough task of pulling it together.
No doubt in my mind that Leonard was Wisconsin's head coach in waiting, and I've expressed that opinion before. Here's a guy who loves the Badgers, went from walk-on as a player to three-time All-American safety to a solid 10-year career (as an undrafted player) in the National Football League. Hired as defensive backs coach straight from the NFL, the Tony, WI native then stepped into the D-Coordinator job the very next season -- with great success.
Keep in mind that, whenever a college job came up, so did Leonard's name, He was even bandied about as a D-Coordinator with the Packers when that spot opened a couple years back.
Naming Leonard as interim head coach accomplishes several things. It gives him a chance to prove himself, and right the Badger ship in the process. It gives the school some stability on the recruiting trail. AND it perhaps takes him off the job market, as it's clear some school was going to come along and pile up so much cash that it would have been hard for Leonard to walk away from it.
I suspect the Badgers will rally around Leonard, a straight shooter respected by his players. The season can still be salvaged. A lesser bowl game can be reached, but a bowl game none the less.
On Wisconsin!
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