On Saturday, October 1, 2022 the Wisconsin Badger football team faced off against the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois. The game did not go well for the Badgers and they ended up losing 34 to 10. The prior week, Wisconsin lost to THE Ohio State University, (for some reason the emphasize THE, like is there is another university named Ohio State University, or they have a big inferiority complex) 52 to 21. October 2 would mark the end of Paul Chryst's tenure as head football coach for his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. Two main things, in my mind played a part, ageism and money.
Wisconsin Badger fans were livid after the OSU loss, and gained steam after the Illinois loss. After the Ohio State game, McIntosh made the following statement:
The expectation of our program has evolved. That is clear. There have been varying degrees of tough times. But clearly, we all heard that there is a lot of urgency in making sure we push through and get better. Right now, the focus has to be on our season. That is the only thing that is within our control to focus on. That is not a new approach and that has been an approach that has served us well over the course of time.
This had a man named David Hookstad writing, after the OSU game, for some obscure sports web page, question what planet McIntosh was living on. A week later McIntosh would fire head coach Paul Chryst and install Jim Leonhard as the interim head coach. Badger fans were very happy, ecstatic, like they were in December 2014 when Chryst was hired to replace Gary Anderson. Chryst was the local boy made good, a QB guru of which everyone was pleased as punch. That is until the team does not perform the way they want, then they turned on him faster than a congressional candidate changes positions on an issue.
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| Jim Leonhard |
Leonhard is considered an upcoming coach, a football Wunderkind, who played football at Wisconsin as a walk-on and became an All-American. Leonhard is 39 years old, compared to 56 years for Paul Chryst. A couple years ago Leonhard could have had the Packer defensive coordinator position, but turned it down to stay at Wisconsin. I see this as key to what has now occurred, and which I will touch on later in greater detail. Earlier this season, Nebraska fired Scott Frost, age 47, a former Cornhusker QB, who had success coaching Florida Atlantic. There were two main names on the Nebraska list, at least according to the talking heads, for head coach, Jim Leonhard and Lance Leipold, a Jefferson, WI native formerly at UW-Whitewater, and currently at Kansas.
McIntosh (age 45) has not been very upfront about why he fired Paul Chryst and that is major shortcoming as the whole issue lacks transparency, particularly for a man who has given his heart and soul to Wisconsin. In an article in the "Wisconsin State Journal" on Thursday, Oct 13, McIntosh noted he would not say what caused him to fire Chryst, but he went in to the 10:00 am Sunday meeting with no intent to fire him, but at noon, during the meeting made that decision. It is not like Chryst lacked success: he was twice Big Ten Coach of the Year, and three times Big Ten West Champions. He was fired after winning 72 percent of his games, and over 70% in the Big Ten. His Bowl record was 78.8%, or 7 and 2. By comparison, Barry Alvarez had a won under 62% of his games, and was 9-4 in bowl games. Yet, Alvarez retired from football to be the UW's Athletic Director, a position he recently retired from and turned the reigns over to McIntosh. An interesting note, Chryst was on the panel to select the AD. Also, since 2015 Kirk Ferentz of Iowa and Chryst had almost identical win-loss records in Big Ten play, with Chryst having one win more, and one loss less than Ferentz.
The game of college football has changed in just the last two years, with athletes now able to make money off of Name Image and Likeness. Large payouts to fired coaches are not uncommon. Until he was fired Chryst was the highest paid public employee in the State of Wisconsin. The University did not blink in providing him a payout of about $11 million dollars. Less than what he was owed (reports say it would have been $16 million), but the UW gave up the contract clause that money owed him be deducted if he were to get a job at D1 college or professional. Instead, of installment payments over several years, they will now make a one-time payment, in or before Feb 2023. In addition, neither can say a bad thing about the other, which may be why McIntosh failed to provide reasons for the firing, after only providing meaningless platitudes about Coach Chryst. It is probably this clause as to why McIntosh denied that he got mad and heated during that Sunday meeting with Chryst.
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| Jim Leonhard |
'Here we're very family oriented' Shaw said Monday. 'We like to keep things in-house, we love the brotherhood, we love Wisconsin. We take pride in 'You wore the W.' The power shift was from Coach (Paul) Chryst who used to play here to another coach who used to play here. So I told them to understand that yeah, even though it's a business, you've got to understand it's Wisconsin, it's a brotherhood we love our people, we're going to take care of each other. So understand it's a shift, but it's still a family shift.'
Apparently, at Wisconsin, one can cut out the head of the family early in the season at will, and as long as they are replaced with another Wisconsin product all is hunky dory. I suspect Shaw was given talking points by the UW athletics PR department. I wonder what Paul Chryst thinks of the family mentality now? All this talk of a football family, is quite frankly, BS. It is about the money not about the family. If it was about family, the UW Athletic Dept. could learn something from Vito Corleone, and Frank Barone. Of course, the firing is to give a trial run to Leonhard, and get a ahead start on the coaching search, since besides the transfer portal, the December signing period also plays a roll.
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| Lance Leipold, Jefferson, WI native |
Sure, the Badger program is on somewhat difficult times right now, but the man they made interim head coach, and is the heir apparent, Jim Leonhard, had defenses that gave up 86 points over two games! Chryst, people said, had offenses that became stale, he could not recruit anymore, the old QB guru had lost his touch. Pellini at Nebraska had about the same record as Chryst when he was fired in favor of Scott Frost. This whole situation reeks of ageism, getting rid of an older coach in favor of an up and coming Wunderkind, Jimmy Leonhard. Was there a tacit agreement between The UW Athletic Director less than two years ago when he turned down the Green Bay d-coordinator position, that Leonhard would be the guy if Chryst was nudged out? Was Leonhard a poser, hoping to get Chryst fired and himself hired? Maybe Leonhard, from NW WI, is a closet Viking fan, and did not like the idea of coaching for his in-state pro football team.? He was offered the d-coordinator at the pro level and turned it down (now the Packers are stuck with another incompetent at the position). His defenses certainly did not perform well against OSU, Illinois, or even Washington State. Look at the stats for the OSU game. OSU was up on WI by 24 points at the end of the first half, and by 21 to 0 at the end of the first quarter. How does that happen to a defensive mastermind? Did he know the case was lost the minute OSU scored and from thereon became a poser? The loss to Illinois made firing Paul Chryst easier. I see three main reasons why Chryst was fired. First, the UW did not wish to lose Leonhard to Nebraska, and wanted to see how he could do as an interim head coach. Badger fans will be excited that the old Badgers are back after beating poor 1-4, now 1-5 Northwestern on October 8 by 35 points. On Facebook fans were raving about offensive coordinator Bobby Ingram's game plan. The coordinator brought in by Chryst before the start of the season. I am not sure why Ingram's game plans against Illinois and OSU were insufficient, but now is all of a sudden great. Of course, the fan base felt that the Badgers were back after the Badgers beat New Mexico State 66-7 on 17 Sept, what was to be a warm up game for OSU the following Saturday. The UW has a way of playing many lightweight opponents for non-conference games, although being in the Big Ten West it is not like their schedule has many power houses, either.
Second, I think it was money. I am sure some large donors, probably some who helped provide perks to UW coaches, wanted him gone. Money in college athletics speaks, and it speaks the most when your football coach is the highest paid position in state employ. Unfortunately, money rules major sports like football. Arguments are made that, at D1 programs, football and basketball fund all other college athletics. Third, I also think Alvarez was consulted by McIntosh, perhaps he even called McIntosh and suggested him dumping Paul Chryst. I think Alvarez decided to throw Paul Chryst under the bus. After all, many see the football program as being built by Alvarez. McIntosh says he called ALvarez later in the afternoon to let him know of the firing of Chryst before word leaked out. Of course, that will be the mantra, as McIntosh would not want to be seen as being led by Alvarez. Yet, with all this, I think it was ageism. Some commented that the game has passed Paul Chryst by, and he is not a man to lead a major program in an age of extended money with the whole Name, Image, and Likeness issue. In the end, however, I think it was ageism and money second, the desire for a younger man to come in and take control. Face it, D1 athletes are coddled, big time. I recall talking to a parent of a D1 tennis player who had everything done for them. When that person was out on their own, after graduating, the father said hic child did not even know how to call and make a hotel reservation. If tennis players are coddled so much, I cannot fathom what it is like in D1 football and basketball where the prima donna players really shine.
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| Brett Beilema |
Paul Chryst, in my opinion, did not deserve to fired much less at that point in the season. He was given an annual contract extension earlier this year, or late last year. Five college D1 head football coaches have been fired during so far this season. Chryst was the most successful of the five. The talking heads and the Badger fans are happy now, but as we know they can turn quick. If Paul Chryst was not safe, he the man heralded in 2014 as the one to bring back success after the Gary Anderson years, I doubt few D1 college coaches are safe. Pat Forde had this comment about the role of money in the sport of football: "As for where the sport as a whole is heading? Deeper into the shark tank."
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| Andrew receiving Scholar-Athlete Award from a brother of Paul Chryst |
I had the opportunity to meet Paul Chryst's brothers and his mother during a banquet when our son Andrew was selected to the All-Scholar-Athlete football team, so perhaps I am a little biased. The banquet was right before the 2011 WI Badger spring football game. If memory serves me right, Paul briefly stopped up, he was an assistant coach at the tie, but I did not meet him. Andrew and the other members were introduced at half time of the spring game.
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| Andrew being recognized at 50 Yard line at Camp Randall Stadium |
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