OT: Paul Chryst to bring Badgers back to pro-style punt coverage scheme
Chryst has always kind of reminded me of Hoke, and here's another reason why. He doesn't provide much rationale for this move beyond a comfort factor, even though it's pretty proven at this point that it's an inferior scheme. It'll be interesting to see how much Wisconsin's special teams play regresses this year.
August 20th, 2015 at 1:53 PM ^
Let's see if he can get 11 players on the field for punt coverage
August 20th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
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August 20th, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^
for the use of "Well..." in response to an article comparing Hoke and Chryst. I applaud you.
August 20th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
Wow, what must that be like? Poor Wisconsin, I can only imagine....
August 20th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^
Alvarez wanted "his guy". A Wisconsin guy who wouldn't complain about admissions or how he was treated by Alvarez. Someone who had a 19-19 career head coaching record at Pitt. Sounds familiar...
August 20th, 2015 at 2:09 PM ^
Of course Wisconsin could have gotten a better coach, given their sustained relevance, as you say. But when you've got a AD who cares more about control than success, this is what you get.
We know the story well. The Chryst hire parallels our own Hoke hire narrative.
Good luck, Wisconsin.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
I think Wisconsin looks bad to coaches right now. Bielema left a great thing at Wisconsin to go to Arkansas. Pretty much destined to eternally be somewhere between the middle and bottom of the SEC West. Then Andersen peaced out promptly because of the crap.
Two elites coaches set F this plus the added difficulties Wisconsin always has recruiting, and I'm thinking they would struggle to get a big name. They'd probably hire Mike Riley too.
August 20th, 2015 at 9:53 PM ^
Elite... You sure you don't want to use a mulligan on that one?
August 20th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^
This is the reason Chryst was hired. He's someone Alvarez can easily influence and control. You're very right, it does sound very familiar. I also heard from a Wisconsin source that the main reason Bielema left was he couldn't get along with Alvarez. The latter may still be an asset to Wisconsin in some ways, but until he steps down from AD, it will probably severely limit the pool of candidates for the HC job.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
I don't quite agree. Chryst was by all accounts a future Wisconsin head coach after having been an incredibly successful OC for many years there. The Pitt stop was seens as him getting his beak wet and gaining the experience before the inevitable return home. Chasing Anderson out so quickly just hastened the pace. Hoke had a much lessor connection to Michigan and was never seen as a HC-in-waiting here.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^
Wasn't Hoke Co-Head coach with Carr one year?
In any case, yeah you're right. He was not really ever the Heir Apparent the way Chryst was.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:39 PM ^
"Associate Head Coach"
A title without any additional responsibilty relative to the other assistants at the time.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^
The Alvarez::Chryst, Brandon::Hoke comparisons are valid. Very similar situation.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^
Barry Alvarez is one of the greatest coaches in Big Ten history. He took a program that was awful for decades and turned them into a perennial power. What he did was more impressive than what Bo did here.Him, Fry at Iowa, and Barnett at Northwestern led the three most impressive resurrections in Big Ten history IMO. Fry and Alvarez rte higher than Barnett because they sustained their success and were not prone to making misogynistic statements demeaning a rape victim.
Meanwhily Dave Brandon was and is a mediocre corporate bureaucrat who could not run a business if it required anything more than appointing flunkies to do his bidding.There is nothing special about Dave Brandon, not even the asshole aspect of his character.
Barry Alvarez might be an egomanical jerk, but at least he has a legitimate claim to greatness. Dave Brandon has a claim only to being a no-talent assclown.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:46 PM ^
"What he did was more impressive than what Bo did here."
You can't be serious. You're aware of the tipping point Michigan football sat on after the 1968 season, right? They were coming off a decade that saw mostly losing seasons under Bump Elliott and couldn't come close to filling the Big House. We're talking like 50-55k at home in the stands. The national cache of Michigan football was far more gone than it was during the Hoke era. Bo came from college football obscurity (the headlines after he was hired read "Bo Who?") to ressurect a bona fide blue blood that was dangerously close to losing that distinction for decades to come. No modern Big Ten coach has ever had even a comparably strong tenure.
August 20th, 2015 at 4:30 PM ^
I think a better question is are you aware of the situation Wisconsin was in before Alvarez came in.
2-9, 1-10, 3-8, 3-9
Hell, their best seasons before he came in were just a handful of 8 and 9 win seasons, and most of them were before the turn of the century.
August 20th, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
They were awful. Not just mediocre, which is what UM was under Bump, but Northwestern-awful. To take a program that lacked UM's pedigree and recruiting base and to transform it into a perennial Big Ten power with three Big Ten championships and three Rose Bowl wins in 15 years is incredible achievement.
Miami of Ohio was not "college football obscurity". It's called the "Cradle of Coaches" for a reason.It's like a Who's Who of great football coaches.
Bo was a great coach. No bones about that. I revere him as much as anyone. But it isn't an insult to say that another coach's achievement is more impressive. Wisconsin is not an easy place to win at. Wisconsin has a comparatively small population that is fairly homogenesis from a demagraphics standpoint and is located in the upper Midwest.
I'd also put Hayden Fry up there as well. Both he and Alvarez did phenomenal jobs considering the material they had to work with.
August 20th, 2015 at 9:50 PM ^
But was it called the Cradle of Coaches in the 60's?
August 20th, 2015 at 5:39 PM ^
The national cache of Michigan football was far more gone than it was during the Hoke era.
You mean cachet. A cache (pronounced like "cash") is a hidden supply of something.
/End nitpick
Anyway, I'd say Wisconsin was probably in a worse position in 1990 than we were in 1969. Bo inherited a lot of talent from Bump; it had just underachieved. We went 8-2 in 1968 but got humiliated by OSU in Columbus.
Wisconsin OTOH had pretty much zero talent when Alvarez got there and he went 1-10 his first season.
August 20th, 2015 at 7:47 PM ^
I hate to be that guy but Alvarez has more Rose Bowl wins than Bo or Lloyd. Very underrated coach.
August 21st, 2015 at 5:34 AM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^
Is Chryst's wife hot?
August 20th, 2015 at 7:25 PM ^
Just because you are a great coordinator doesn't mean you will be a great head coach. Chryst as a head coach has been meh. We'll see if he can keep the ball rolling at Wisconsin
August 20th, 2015 at 2:05 PM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
I'll add to the chorus that he isn't as underwhelming a hire as Hoke was. While on the surface they seem similar (mediocre record, mostly hired because of connections to the school/the old guard), there is one major difference. Before becoming a head coach, Chryst was a guy who OC'd several teams, and was OC for Wisconsin's best offenses of recent years. He at least has something to hang his hat on.
It's obviously concerning that his record as a head coach wasn't better, but I don't know Pitt well enough to know if there were some legitimate reasons he didn't have the team performing better in his third year at the healm.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^
Stoops is currently the owner of a 7-17 record whilst Chryst is 19-19. I don't get the infatuation with Mark Stoops. He has done nothng as a head coach to warrant considering him for other jobs. He is Hoke without the wins.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:56 PM ^
August 20th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
Although this is archaic and stupid, I'm willing to bet they can at least count to 11.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
This will be great for Michigan when we finally play them in 2123 after the Big Ten's forty-two game playoff system is implemented
August 20th, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^
Strikes me a bit as a guy not cut out for the head job. He seems to have too much of an assistant's mentality. Pitt had really good offenses that moved the ball, beat people up, but they screwed up EVERY SINGLE little thing that winning teams usually get to go their way. A real sloppy team.
And you see him making special teams decisions like this....Wisconsin fans should be glad they were able to keep Aranda and that theirs is the worst P5 division out there.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
Definitely a step backward for their special teams.
And as other posters have noted he was a safe hire...I wonder what his ceiling will be.
And I'm interested(excited?) to see Wisky go up against Nebraska this year if only to see what both coaches can do given that most people seem to Wisky and Nebraska will the West contenders
August 20th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
Barry would take over head coaching again in a second if he didn't have to give up his seat of power to do it. Guy is a nutcase.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^
I don't know why he doesn't. He obviously wants to be the HC, so why not do it? He did do a good job coaching their bowl game and is a legend amongst Badger fans.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^
The guy is pushing 70 years old. It's one thing to step in and coach the football team for a few weeks in preparation for a bowl game. It's another thing entirely to step back and run a football program with the daily grind of recruiting, player management, etc.
The spirit is probably willing, but the flesh is weak.
August 21st, 2015 at 1:58 AM ^
It's like riding a bicycle. You get right back on and KNOW you can do this! Then you remember why it's been a while.
August 20th, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^
I'd take Chryst as an OC under Harbaugh but not head coach.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
If you're Wisconsin, you're not getting a Harbaugh or Urban Meyer like hire. We all saw how the coaching pool was pretty weak last offseason outside of Harbaugh for us. Chryst is a relatively good pickup for a Wisconsin like program.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
we only got Harbaugh because coaching Michigan was his destiny and life-long dream.
We got lucky.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^
But we had the program history, recruiting pull, and fanbase to make Harbaugh happen. It's a lot harder to win national championships when you're pulling in 2 star DBs from Eau Claire instead of Peppers.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^
But I'd have given a pinkie toe to have Wisconsin's OL the last few years.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^
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August 20th, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^
"Hoke is leaps and bounds above Brady Hoke as a major college coach."
Are you talking about his brother Jon or another Hoke?
August 20th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
Obvious typo given he references Chryst in the next sentence.
August 20th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^
Just a thought.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
Good for him. I'm not sure how well he will do. I could see a lot of 8-4 seasons from Chryst. Maybe if he throws in a 10-2 season every once in awhile the fans will be happy. Not really sure what to expect from him.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
The punt scheme thing is way overatted. If that's what he knows and is good at, it can be done very well.
No one is telling Paul Johnson his offense is outdated and inferior are they.
August 20th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^