Getty Image / John Fisher
It was a swift downfall for Paul Chryst as the coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. What was seen as a very safe job coming into the season turned into the veteran coach getting fired after three straight losses and a 2-3 start. Chryst was 67-26 in Madison with zero big ten titles.
Many questioned the firing of Chryst, considering he has had some success. And, people were worried about the program sliding into mediocrity as Nebraska has. But, more details are coming out that are damning for Paul Chryst.
Wisconsin went almost a full year with a recruiting staff
It’s an era where recruiting matters more than ever and recruiting budgets are ballooning. And then there’s Wisconsin in 2021.
Paul Chryst went 8 months last year without a recruiting department and things got a little bit sideways.https://t.co/I47RQ7oEF9 pic.twitter.com/qrQkQAABvI
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 6, 2022
That is astonishing. Yes, I understand the previous recruiting staff left together for another school. And, yes, I get that in Wisconsin the state legislature has control of the athletic department’s budget and instituted a hiring freeze that left them unable to hire replacements. But, this is still absolutely flabbergasting.
The result of this was predictable. Wisconsin had a class that did not even get in the top 40 and featured only one four-star player. That’s how you kill a program and that’s one of the reasons why power players around the program wanted Chryst gone.
college football fans react to news
Obviously, this has Wisconsin fans ticked off and fans of other teams wholly flummoxed.
Chryst is a great guy— but this was a huge gaff and completely unacceptable at this level.
— Eric Bach (@Eric_Bach) October 6, 2022
This is a damning stat. Wisconsin is not a small media market and they pack a huge stadium in Camp Randall Stadium. They certainly make money. But, they’re not using it on recruiting at all.
Wisconsin is raking in the money from being in the Big Ten, but they were spending less money in recruiting than Uconn and ECU. There is a major culture problem within the Athletic department. Unacceptable to be that cheap.
— jbook™ (@jbook37) October 6, 2022
Fans are in the right to be upset. This is ridiculous in this day and age.
Reading this Wisconsin Football recruiting content today makes my stomach sick.
— The Badgers Outsider (@DerekBlakeslee) October 6, 2022
If you’re spending 33% as much as Kansas, you’re having a problem.
Wisconsin spent less on recruiting than another other power-5 school in college football in 2018.
Not even getting into the heavyweights, they spent 33% as much as Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska.
They spent less than East Carolina, Boise and UConn.https://t.co/lH3byRHTl4 https://t.co/i3ZjrjO3et
— Ian Kenyon (@IanKenyonNFL) October 6, 2022
It will be interesting if interim coach Jim Leonhard, who appears to a candidate for the permanent job, can figure things out in this department.