BADGERS HIRE FORMER VIKING SLASH KICKER- Page 51

[Run-MKE 311]

The final number is less than I thought.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bret-biele ... ncaaf.html

The incentives make it a pretty sweet deal, but not that far off from Madison's numbers. He really must have pissed some people off around the program. Barry said it is time to leave my son.

[Kerb Hohl]

The final number is less than I thought.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bret-biele ... ncaaf.html

The incentives make it a pretty sweet deal, but not that far off from Madison's numbers. He really must have pissed some people off around the program. Barry said it is time to leave my son.

Hello homer view. I think most people think Bielema (for whatever reason) was pissed and left if it wasn't about money.

[El Duderino]

PSU still has a much more fertile home recruiting base, add the team history and i can understand why people believe it is a better opportunity. In the short term (next three years) you will have to subtract loss of schollies, but I believe Penn State, with the right coach, is set up more for success than UW is.

They have done nothing to prove this since entering the conference. In theory it seems plausible, but it isn't reality.

A big reason why was Paterno had been past his prime as a coach for quite awhile. Titan is right about PSU being in a much more fertile recruiting base. I'd normally take the Penn St. job over Wisconsin any day of the week if i was a hot coaching candidate, but that child sex scandal throws a wrench into the equation because it's hard to know just how long that will negatively impact recruiting.

[crkone]

So including incentives Bielema will be getting $3.9 million a year. That's over a million more a year. Not too small of an increase if you ask me, if he didn't get incentives from UW.

[El Duderino]

I mean, I think the perfect example of this year without Chryst is a comparison to 2008.

Transfer Alan Evridge blew donkey dick (O'Brien).
Sherer sucked (Stave is much more talented and fared decent).
Phillips came in (Young Tolzien came in after Sherer was deemed to suck).

Where was savior Chryst there?

How about the fact that O'Brien sucks, Stave was decent but a freshman, and Phillips was alright but was playing on mush for knees?

That is right in line with a junior/senior Stocco or junior/senior Tolzien where we had success. Not taking credit away from Chryst, I'm sure he was a great QB coach, but you also have to look at the talent. I feel like you're just casually throwing a dart at this theory that the team is lost without Chryst and it conveniently fits because we don't have any day 1 NFL picks on this team (at least juniors or seniors about to be drafted).

I agree with you that Chryst wouldn't have been some big savior this year for an offense lacking talent at QB and WR.

Where Bielema is to blame IMO is wrongly evaluating how good O'Brien was and making a bad hire at the O-Line coaching spot, but to his credit Bret did suck it up and quickly admit to himself that he made a bad hire. He also struggled to recruit enough WR talent.

That said, for as great as Chryst was, i have no doubt that had Wilson been the QB this year, UW finishes at worst with two losses. As we are seeing with Wilson in Seattle, he's a phenomenal talent and would have thrived under Canada also. Look at the huge stats Harnish put up under Canada. Hell, even if just Stave had remained healthy, i think we win at least 1-2 of those OT losses.

Looking at the year as a whole, i liked some of the wrinkles Canada added to the offense like that jet sweep which i thought though he didn't hand to Gordon enough. Liked the wildcat to White with 8-9 lineman on the field. Give Canada at least just a solid QB and a better receiving core, i could really see the offense thrive next year if Canada is kept on by the new coach. The players will know his system better also. I really hope he's retained unless Chryst takes the head coaching job.

[RiotPunch]

How does everyone feel about Al Golden? Sounding like a legit possibility.

[wichmae]

I'd be ok with Golden. Solid recruiter and a good leader. He's kind of similar to Bret. Not my first choice though.

[El Duderino]

Yes, I'm sure Bret will be able to outrecruit and outcoach Les Miles and Nick Saban. Les Miles maybe because he has no idea how to manage the clock but I doubt he outrecruits either and he's not outcoaching Saban.

It's not just Saban and Miles, Texas A&M is also in the SEC West and if Auburn gets their act together, that's a brutal brutal division to be in and in some years the schedule can include games vs teams like Georgia and/or Florida.

Bielema faces a very tough task in front of him, but there is better high school talent in the south and i can see why a change like this would be exciting.

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet, but i thought Dan Wolken in USA Today wrote a good article.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/12/04/bret-bielema-arkansas-wisconsin/1746989/

But understand this about the coaching business, especially these days: It's always better to leave a couple years too soon than stay a couple years too long.

Make no mistake, Wisconsin is a good job. But it's not one of the three best jobs in the Big Ten, and it's certainly not a place where you should be going to three straight Rose Bowls. Somehow, Bielema pulled it off. And now he's leaving for a new fan base and a new contract before he had a chance to fall short of the impossibly high standard he just set.

Deep down, he had to know it wouldn't go on forever. College football is cyclical. Most programs reach a certain point, level off, then decline and start the cycle all over again. With Michigan back on the rise and Ohio State almost there already under Meyer, this stretch of football was as good as it could get for Wisconsin. Three Rose Bowls in a row may never happen again in the entire history of the school.

And if the Badgers went five years without winning a title, what do you think would happen? Remember, it wasn't so long ago that Kirk Ferentz was considered the best coach in the Big Ten, going 31-7 over a three-year stretch. Ferentz had plenty of opportunities to do what Bielema did, but he stayed. Now, after a couple bad years, he's locked into a contract the school can't afford to buy out and stuck with a fan base that expects way more than it's getting.

It's uncomfortable, and at a place like Iowa or Wisconsin, probably inevitable. Coaches get too comfortable, fans get bored and the moment churning out an 8-4 or 9-3 season seems like a disappointment, it's time to get out and start over.

So Bielema played this exactly right. He gave Wisconsin seven years, brought the program to its ceiling and left before bumping his head on it. Now he's got a new challenge at a school with plenty of resources and a fan base that will unite behind him. It's a fresh start, and a lucrative one at that. In a sport where a coach can get fired two years after winning a national title, that's never a bad thing.

[RiotPunch]

LMAO at Bielema doing the pig sooie thing and bringing up his wife.

[ReasonablySober]

I disagree that Wisconsin has hit its ceiling.

[Kerb Hohl]

I disagree that Wisconsin has hit its ceiling.

I think it could easily scrape along that ceiling for 3, 5, even 10 more years...but where do we see it going over?

OSU has Urban Meyer and a much better recruiting area and Michigan is on the rise so division competition will be tough. How can you beat 3 straight Rose Bowls? Obviously winning a few and/or getting into the playoffs. You think that is doable?

Look at like Iowa, Oklahoma State, even Boise, Kansas State (will likely see it after this little run), etc.

Teams listed are ones that have some OK recruiting areas but don't have Nike (Oregon), tradition to dig into top Texas (Oklahoma), etc. It's hard to sustain several BCS caliber years in a row in these football areas.

[ReasonablySober]

Huh.

[trwi7]

Wisconsin last three years - 30-10 record

Wisconsin 2005-2007 - 31-8 record

Wisconsin 1997-1999 - 29-8 record

Should probably stop acting like this three year stretch is some amazing accomplishment that has never and will never be duplicated by the team again.

[Kerb Hohl]

Wisconsin last three years - 30-10 record

Wisconsin 2005-2007 - 31-8 record

Wisconsin 1997-1999 - 29-8 record

Should probably stop acting like this three year stretch is some amazing accomplishment that has never and will never be duplicated by the team again.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we go into quite a lull after that?

No **** it can be duplicated again. Can we top it?

Also, even though he was coming into inherited recruits, it is kinda funny that of the eras you mention, Bielema coached about 2/3 of them and they essentially make up Bielema's tenure minus 2 middle years.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Huh.

Is that his wife? I've never seen her before. Not bad.

[ReasonablySober]

Twirly, that's exactly what I jumped all over Mandel about yesterday. He claimed this was our best stretch ever, when it obviously wasn't the case.

As for this season, I don't even consider it a success. The Rose Bowl birth is complete crap, and not even a win is going to change that.

I'd give any of our three year runs for one National Championship appearance. I'd obviously give any kind of stretch for one National Champion win. I think a playoff birth is certainly possible, and that would be better than anything Bielema accomplished.

[LUKE23]

Can they top it? Who knows. But it surely is sustainable. I view the football program similar to the basketball program. They have been top 20 programs for nearly two decades now. They are firmly entrenched there with a chance to go higher based on how things bounce each respective season. I don't EXPECT a national title from either, that isn't realistic. But I also don't think it's impossible, whereas two decades ago, it was laughable to even discuss.

The football program is not going to decline by losing Bielema. I am 100% positive of that. Just like I'm positive the basketball program will have a nice pick of coaches once Bo leaves. Madison is a damn good town and the teams have been good for a while. They aren't going anywhere and there is also no reason they can't improve either.

But there is no reason to hold a natty title as the standard. There are too many recruiting obstacles that will never be overcome no matter who is coach here. It can happen, but it takes some extraordinary breaks.

[Kerb Hohl]

Twirly, that's exactly what I jumped all over Mandel about yesterday. He claimed this was our best stretch ever, when it obviously wasn't the case.

As for this season, I don't even consider it a success. The Rose Bowl birth is complete crap, and not even a win is going to change that.

I'd give any of our three year runs for one National Championship appearance. I'd obviously give any kind of stretch for one National Champion win. I think a playoff birth is certainly possible, and that would be better than anything Bielema accomplished.

I think you're severely misguided on how easy this is. I don't think it's a secret that Bielema's in-game coaching wasn't great, but he had good control, was clean in running it, and recruited well.

We can't just hire Jim Tressell and have him sprinkle the "coaching" pixie dust all over this thing and we'll have an undefeated season. We need Ohio and Pennsylvania recruits to do that easily. Either that or an AWESOME coach that still recruits as well as BB, and hell, probably a little luck.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I think it's just a lot more improbable than you guys think. Oh yeah, just get a better tactician in there and it should be a lock to do better than they have!

I'm kind of excited for a new era and some new blood, but I am more pessimistic than optimistic that we'll outdo what we recently have done.

[LUKE23]

I'm kind of excited for a new era and some new blood, but I am more pessimistic than optimistic that we'll outdo what we recently have done.

I'm not. I think we'll maintain the level we're at, or do better.

I don't think anyone is touching Ohio State in the next few years though, and that doesn't change regardless of our coach and it sure wasn't going to be BB to get us over that hump.

[Kerb Hohl]

Can we do a case study on this? Can somebody look at some recent coaching changes where a program had some fairly sustained success and how they did after the next hire? El Dude brought up some examples of bad cases like Florida or Michigan with Dickrod or Alabama pre-Saban. Do we have any examples where the next guy came in and improved the product? I would say LSU with Miles kept it up there and Petersen improved Boise off the top of my head. Kelly at Oregon maybe.

Also, apparently at the press conference BB hinted that the assistant coach pay was a main reason for bolting.