Wisconsin Badgers Thread | Fick got the Axe back

[beekay414]

I hope whoever the next coach is only takes the job if they're going to commit more to recruiting. We've been bottom of spending in that regard for as long as I can remember. This isn't the 90s. This entire program needs to adjust and stop only using football as the piggy bank to fund the rest of the athletic department. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by beekay414

[beekay414]

Quote

Last season, Jimmy Rolder, a 6-foot-2 and 220-pound linebacker from Marist High School in Chicago, visited Wisconsin for a football game as a prospective recruit. Rolder was a late-bloomer with loads of potential, the type of talent Wisconsin often identified early and signed. There was just one problem that day.

“No one talked to him,” said one source with direct knowledge of Wisconsin’s recruiting operations. “No one knew who he was or anything about him.”

By December, Rolder had blossomed into a four-star prospect who signed with Michigan, where he has become a key contributor as a freshman.

“The lack of recruiting department hurt that heavily,” said another source familiar with Wisconsin’s recruiting. “They probably would’ve had Jimmy Rolder.”

...

Another recruiting source said that, because Wisconsin’s department was so understaffed, those tasked with tracking and interacting with recruits during home football games weren’t provided with lists of which players would be attending. That’s how Jimmy Rolder slipped through the cracks when he visited campus with a high school teammate.

lol wtf

Edited October 7, 2022 by beekay414

[ramssuperbowl99]

9 hours ago, beekay414 said:

I hope whoever the next coach is only takes the job if they're going to commit more to recruiting. We've been bottom of spending in that regard for as long as I can remember. This isn't the 90s. This entire program needs to adjust and stop only using football as the piggy bank to fund the rest of the athletic department. 

I don't have any inside information on why Chryst was fired, but I do think this was used against him.

I only heard this recently, but we didn't replace our recruiting department after Saeed Khalif left (and took a lot of people with him). For 6 months to a year, the positions were open and unfilled. That's square on Chryst.

[beekay414]

4 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I don't have any inside information on why Chryst was fired, but I do think this was used against him.

I only heard this recently, but we didn't replace our recruiting department after Saeed Khalif left (and took a lot of people with him). For 6 months to a year, the positions were open and unfilled. That's square on Chryst.

Jesse Temple's article was pretty scalding on the lack of recruiting. I posted a tidbit above about that recruit that ended up at Michigan that nobody on the staff knew who he was. They're committing $300 Million to a new practice facility so they need to not half *** it and put money into recruiting again. I don't think they'll ever loosen their academic standards for athletes to make a major impact but I'm hoping they don't continue to be Nazis and give the new HC some rope to work with.

[ramssuperbowl99]

2 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Jesse Temple's article was pretty scalding on the lack of recruiting. I posted a tidbit above about that recruit that ended up at Michigan that nobody on the staff knew who he was. They're committing $300 Million to a new practice facility so they need to not half *** it and put money into recruiting again. I don't think they'll ever loosen their academic standards for athletes to make a major impact but I'm hoping they don't continue to be Nazis and give the new HC some rope to work with.

The athletic department had reqs open, the money was budgeted and there, but PC chose to not spend it.

[beekay414]

1 minute ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

The athletic department had reqs open, the money was budgeted and there, but PC chose to not spend it.

Do we know why? Did he just not want more people to manage? All of his coaching decisions on the staff were mindboggling to me, from the recruiting department (or lack thereof) to coaches having no experience coaching a position group getting those jobs (Al Johnson w/RBs, Bobby Engram with/QBs, etc).

[ramssuperbowl99]

11 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Do we know why? Did he just not want more people to manage? All of his coaching decisions on the staff were mindboggling to me, from the recruiting department (or lack thereof) to coaches having no experience coaching a position group getting those jobs (Al Johnson w/RBs, Bobby Engram with/QBs, etc).

First thing I asked for was an explanation and the response was that it 'wasn't a priority'. They didn't bring in a 3rd party to help recruit for the roles or anything.

I don't think there was anything that I could have heard which would have made it make sense to me.

Edited October 7, 2022 by ramssuperbowl99

[beekay414]

2 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

First thing I asked for was an explanation and the response was that it 'wasn't a priority'. They didn't bring in a 3rd party to help recruit for the roles or anything.

I don't think there was anything that I could have heard which would have made it make sense to me.

lol what? Then wtf was their priority? Because it certainly wasn't development, since they were absolutely crap there. Did he just quiet quit because he didn't like the change college football was making? Because it sure seems like he quiet quit.

[ramssuperbowl99]

33 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

lol what? Then wtf was their priority? Because it certainly wasn't development, since they were absolutely crap there. Did he just quiet quit because he didn't like the change college football was making? Because it sure seems like he quiet quit.

Yeah I mean that's not a defensible answer. "It wasn't a priority" is the type of thing you say when stuff is unimportant and you want to be diplomatic.

I didn't hear anything like he made a conscious choice to 'quiet quit', but that's kind of what it sounded like reading between the lines. The job demands 80 hour weeks, and he didn't have the passion for that type of grind anymore.

[packerstk7]

So the money is there for recruiting it just wasn’t used? That’s sad but promising when the other possibility is that the school doesn’t allot enough for it.

[squire12]

1 hour ago, packerstk7 said:

So the money is there for recruiting it just wasn’t used? That’s sad but promising when the other possibility is that the school doesn’t allot enough for it.

I'm not certain, but it feels like UW would have a good pool of former players, grad assistants that could function in that recruiting staff 

[beekay414]

 

[beekay414]

I'll just say this...

If we lose to Nebraska, that should be the death knell for giving Leonhard the job without going hard after Leipold and other candidates. Even in that interview above, Flood kinda hinted at Jim not wanting that extra attention that comes with being HC so he may very well not truly want it full time. 

[squire12]

48 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

I'll just say this...

If we lose to Nebraska, that should be the death knell for giving Leonhard the job without going hard after Leipold and other candidates. Even in that interview above, Flood kinda hinted at Jim not wanting that extra attention that comes with being HC so he may very well not truly want it full time. 

there is something to be noted about coaches that love the coaching aspect of being an OC/DC vs being a HC.   Not everyone has the desire or the traits to be a HC and it is important for them/the hiring staff to recognize that.  

[beekay414]

Just now, squire12 said:

there is something to be noted about coaches that love the coaching aspect of being an OC/DC vs being a HC.   Not everyone has the desire or the traits to be a HC and it is important for them/the hiring staff to recognize that.  

Yep. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this 7 game "sample" is something that was done to see where Leonhard stands. If he doesn't want it after those 7 games, he's gonna stay on as DC IMO. I don't think there's another place he wants to coach, considering he's apparently turned down bigger opportunities and HC jobs, whether that be formal offers or interviewing.

LIS on Sunday night, my pipedream is Leipold taking over as HC and Leonhard staying on as DC. The rest of the staff can be filled however Leipold would want it.