Don't Drink Beer and Respond to YouTube Comments
I'm feeling a bit fired up by a fun little comment exchange by a hater on YouTube. I shouldn't let it bother me but it's the same BS and attitude that came close to driving me away from this type of hobby. But instead of letting it bother me I'm going to share it with you!
Gary Anderson was an NFL kicker. Gary Andersen was the football coach but he was left a program in much better shape that Chryst did, we know this because the Tom Oates of the world keep telling us. Gary even got the notoriously cheap Barry Alvarez make the infrastructure changes to bring the Badgers up to average B1G level.
Luke Fickell inherited a broken recruiting department with still below average infrastructure...and his upperclassmen are the byproducts of what Wisconsin football was becoming.
And yet more talented than ever kids still want to come play for him much to the sweater vests dismay.
They should be they are the upperclassmen! You would hope after 4-5 years in a program you would be the best. But look at the box players. The best player is arguably a redshirt freshmen, a transfer, and a guy that everyone gave up on. And remember Rico was benched by the previous staff and turned into a super star the last two years.
To recruit the portal to that level takes more money in NIL than the Badgers are willing to spend...and even then you would have hated him for blasting out half the roster. He gave players a chance to grow and to be a part of the program. Maybe that's one of his worst qualities is the hope he had in guys Chaney, Barten, Peterson, etc to improve. You're probably right but you don't win a lockerroom by replacing 75% of it.
There was no recruiting department. Chryst changed offensive playcallers like they were going out of style. He won games I will give him that, but when good teams took away his only weapon they crumbled. He was a QB guru who couldn't develop anymore. But he could beat Northern Illinois for recruits so I'll give him that.
You know it's funny you brought up academics. Maybe you should look back at how Barry Alvarez used Prop 48 to jump start the program or how some of our biggest stars of late like Melvin Gordon and Chris Borland wouldn't have academically qualified later on because of some pedantic changes the administration made.
Bret Bielema left because of what Wisconsin was becoming. Behind the times. Cheap. Unwilling to spend the money needed to keep coaches or attract players. At it's not like they couldn't afford to because Wisconsin was and continues to be one of the most profitable athletic departments in the country and while Northwestern is lapping us in terms of facilities Badger fans are complaining about bricks.
At the end of the day it's not going to matter what I say because you made up your mind years ago. You are of a group of fans stuck in the past of some glory that we never really had satisfied with going to the Holiday Bowl if it meant taking the path of least resistance. Well I'm not one of them. I'd rather have Luke Fickell tear it all down and start anew if it means shooting for the fucking stars. When the local media and alumni this it's more important to focus small, beat the bad B1G teams on the field at Toledo on the recruiting trail I say then pray the Badgers join the MAC.
I for one am tired of the weak attitude. Thanks for watching.
I hope that was therapeutic Ryan lol. A lot of fans are "misremembering" the supposed glory days. The facts back up exactly what you are saying- the Badger program had a nice little thing going for a long time of generally very easy schedules and fattening up on wins against the unranked. Chryst as head coach went 6-17 against end of season Top 20 teams (1-12 against Top 10!) and HIS offense averaged a measly 17 pts per game while Leonard's defenses gave up a pretty poor 26 per game (30 against Top 10). Even as OC under Bielema they went a similar 6-14 and 1-10 against Top 20/10 respectively. So considering the overall winning %, the program has been remarkably good at beating the weaker teams- something that was pretty popular to the average fan and doesn't seem all so bad at the moment after embarrassing losses to unranked Iowa and Nebraska. But (1) our schedule is not typically going to be that easy going forward in new super league- and (2) pipe dream or not, Macintosh wants to elevate the program to not just often make the 12 team playoff but actually win some of those games. Perhaps Fickell doesn't end up being the right guy (recruiting of required athletes looks very hopeful), and/or we end up not having the ability or willingness to raise the money needed in this new uncapped NIL world. But I love that Mac is going for it, and going backwards to the "just good enough to beat crappy teams and go to a meaningless exhibition/bowl game" is not good enough.
Yep Kind of amusing like Chryst didn't break the program. If so, why was he fired? Over the last six months I've listened to podcasts with guests which in one aspect or another all support Dairy Raid regarding recruiting, NIL money, etc. The most recent guest praised the DL get from Michigan as really significant. He is 6'6" unusual for the D Line although he will probably be a linebacker. The same guest said Fickell needs two more recruiting classes like his first two to get the Badgers up to 8-10 wins per season. Just today Carter Smith committed to UW, a 4 star QB also flipped from Michigan.
With regard to Nebraska, Wohler was unavailable. It looks like he covered up a lot of sins at the back of the defense. Chaney getting hurt at the end of the first half probably didn't help.