As a lifelong Badger fan who was born and raised in the great Green Bay, Wisconsin, I have seen the same brand of football for too many years. The DNA of the team has been to control the clock by running the ball and fielding an elite defense year after year, but what happens when we cannot run the ball and do not have an elite defense? We lose to out-of-conference teams at home, Big Ten teams at home, and get blown out by Ohio State. All that happened within the first five weeks of the season, and the University decided it was time for a coaching change.
Paul Chryst was a good hire back in 2015 and helped the Badgers win a lot of games during his tenure, but nothing he was doing was original, and that is not all his fault.
Barry Alvarez helped turn Wisconsin back into a formidable football program, but when he stopped coaching, he became even more involved in the program as he became the AD. You could still see his imprint on the way the Badgers play, and in my mind, because he pressured all the coaches to coach like him and call plays like he did in his time. And mostly Wisconsin has gotten away with it, mainly thanks to the ridiculous offensive line play, talented running backs, and elite defenses.
Chryst’s first two years gave the program hope, as even without a superstar RB we were able to finish 10-3 and 11-3 respectively. Play calling that first year was even bordering on creative, as we would run the wildcat here and there with the 2-way legend Tanner McEvoy. Then 2016 Chryst had the help of some bum on defense named TJ and the 2nd ranked defense in the country. Then the next three years felt like a bit of a blur but saw more success. This was largely due to the emergence of once-in-a-generation talent who goes by the name of Jonathon Taylor. Three years of the best running back in the nation can cover up a lot of issues elsewhere on and off the field.
In the past two years and change, we have gotten to see what Chryst can do without the help of Jonathon Taylor, and it has not been up to the standard that now surrounds the Wisconsin program. Moving on from Chryst to Jim Leonard is the move that fans have been calling for, and let’s see if he can deliver.
He is a youthful spark that can hopefully speak to younger recruits and convince the Wisconsin recruits to stay home and swing recruits from outside the state to come to Madison.
Most importantly, Barry Alvarez is no longer the AD, and if Jim Leonard has the final say over what goes on, I would not be shocked to see a change in identity on the offensive side of the ball in the coming seasons.
11am Sports 