OT Wisconsin
- Thread starter JerseyCityHawki
- Start date
Wisconsin = the price of changing coaches.
I'm a big Luke Fickell fan. But sometimes, (almost always), you just don't mess with having a good thing going.
Seems as though the powers that be at Wisconsin got too cute and out-thought themselves a couple years ago by trying to make an adjustment to prepare for the new big ten.
The way Wisconsin used to play would have been an absolute handful for the West coast teams. There is currently no reason to believe Wisconsin will return to the level of success it had a few short years ago. Why try to compete with Oregon and USC at the speed game? Be who you are. Be big and strong and see who is better at being who they are
I'm a big Luke Fickell fan. But sometimes, (almost always), you just don't mess with having a good thing going.
Seems as though the powers that be at Wisconsin got too cute and out-thought themselves a couple years ago by trying to make an adjustment to prepare for the new big ten.
The way Wisconsin used to play would have been an absolute handful for the West coast teams. There is currently no reason to believe Wisconsin will return to the level of success it had a few short years ago. Why try to compete with Oregon and USC at the speed game? Be who you are. Be big and strong and see who is better at being who they are
If they go back to their bread and butter most likely will but this air raid BS isn’t working YET…. But times a ticking on that one
Get ready for Barry 2.0 when fickle Luke gets the axe. Thought it was a bad hire. He just isn’t a P4 head coach, coordinator yes.
Or someone could post the countless examples that changing coaches worked. That goes both ways but it wouldn't fit your barrative.
Do Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue, Northwestern and Michigan State fit your barrative?
Common error,.. A program achieves a level of success that they become bored with. They get complacent and begin to view the current "boring" condition as foundational and something that they could never slip below,.. They convince themselves to reach the stars and instead fall into the toilet... If you are an Iowa basketball fan this should sound vaguely familiar.
I don't really think there are countless examples of a coaching change lifting a program to new heights. Indiana is a great example of one that;s working - it's very impressive. Bama with Saban is another. Clemson maybe, Ohers I'm sure. Texas, Iowa State.
But, "countless" is a word that can be used when changing coaches either doesn't improve things or the programs take a step back. It's not an easy task and it is a cautionary tale.
But that doesn't mean that we should hold on to KF until he's 80 either. The time for change is here and will happen in the next couple of years.
Bu I do think he odds of getting worse are better than the odds of getting better. I'd say the chances of getting better are 20% getting worse 30% and staying the same at 50%.
Unless Kirk self retires he will be coaching until the end of his contract (2029?)
Paul Chryst was flailing at Wisconsin. Sending him packing wasn’t the issue. It was not retaining Jim Leonhard that has caused the rapid decline in their program.
You are correct, though, that Luke Fickell will likely be their Steve Alford of football. In the Midwest/Big Ten, you have to be able to run the football and you have to be stout in the trenches. Wisconsin doesn’t have the horses to play Ohio State style football.
Also, Kirk cannot coach forever. I would hope there is a plan in place for the inevitable transition to the next chapter of Iowa football. I know Hayden Fry was dealing with cancer, but Iowa football went to shit after that underperforming 1997 team because the cupboard was absolutely bare. No one wants to see Kirk hang around too long only to leave the next coach with a mess.
Btw, I forgot Iowa’s current record. Could you help me out with that? Thank you.
Last edited:
And many of the teams you mentioned it wasn't ONE coaching change that made the difference. Hell Indiana changes coaches every few years and hasn't been 9-0 since 1967! Texas went through 1/2 dozen coaches and they certainly always had the financial backing. Campbell is the first coach to win consistently since Earle Bruce with maybe a little Danny Mac in there.
Last edited:
It is much harder to win in college football then lose. "duh" And even harder in a small and cold state like Iowa. I know Kirk can be frustrating and I'm not saying he is our savior, but those that continue to clamour about an upgrade, might want to look at Nebraska or Illinois or even Notre Dame to see what is more likely to happen. How long was the wait between Evashevski and Fry?
The problem for Wisconsin is the identity change. They went from a punishing OL run game based team to a spread. Probably not in their best interest long term for their program with the talent pool that is local for them. Same as Iowa.
Iowa and Wisconsin will miss the Big Ten West more than any other teams.
That era and the inflated records are over.
The card table has been folded up and put in the basement. Everybody is sitting at the big boy table now.
That era and the inflated records are over.
The card table has been folded up and put in the basement. Everybody is sitting at the big boy table now.
It's a 50/50 deal. And most often when teams are changing when they have losing records. Ones that don't have losing records and change coaches voluntarily are teams getting the 4 and 5 stars.
Not really. The only team in the East we have not been able to compete against in recent decade has been Ohio State. The rest we can compete with and don't give me that Michigan bs with his cheating crap they were doing. They've been pantsed this year. And Penn State, yeah we have a shot at them, especially when in Kinnick.
Well hell Lincoln Riley should be fired immediately if one season is all that ever matters. He has way more talent on that team than Iowa has. Oklahoma head coach should be fired. Florida State and Florida head coaches..... fire....fire.
Indiana finally got lucky. They didn't dump a successful coach in the middle of a so-so season
Agreed. All of the posts about the Big10 West are so tiresome.
I get it, going to the B10 championship game is going to be a rarity now, but honestly going to that game when we didn’t have a good enough team and losing by 30 wasn’t any fun so I won’t miss it.
But I don’t think the divisions going away has to mean the end of the program or anything. For instance our problems this year have nothing to do with it, unless you think MSU and UCLA are somehow a huge step up from the teams we are used to playing.
Also with the bigger conferences and expanded playoffs, it’s not the end of the world to take a loss or two as long as you play competitive and lose to a good team. Ohio State hasn’t really been hurt at all by losing to Oregon and Penn St hasn’t really been hurt at all losing to OSU. The Big10 most years is going to get 4 teams in the playoffs so we just need to be top4.
But yeah, not forcing a single punt all game against a mediocre MSU team is going to rightfully drop you from any playoff consideration.
I think Fickell survives this season, but a repeat next year and I bet he's gone.
Alvarez and Bielema had great success at Wisconsin. Then Gary Anderson left on his own. He paid $3 million to get out of there, which is pretty strange.
Then Paul Chryst comes in and wins 72% of his games and some excellent teams. Then gets fired in mid-season. For a program like Wisconsin that had had a lot of success it was an aggressive move. They didn't want to "settle" for just being a darned good football program - they wanted championships.
They may end up going through a few coaches to find the winning formula again.
I'm ready for the next HC at Iowa, but I suspect the next coach won't be here 25 years.
Then Paul Chryst comes in and wins 72% of his games and some excellent teams. Then gets fired in mid-season. For a program like Wisconsin that had had a lot of success it was an aggressive move. They didn't want to "settle" for just being a darned good football program - they wanted championships.
They may end up going through a few coaches to find the winning formula again.
I'm ready for the next HC at Iowa, but I suspect the next coach won't be here 25 years.
The west never won a big ten title game, never made a playoff much less won a playoff game.
Every year when discussing the west it was “what team avoids the best from the east”.
Yes, all that means something. And that “something” is over.
In the next five years does anybody expect a former big ten west team to make the 12 team playoff?
If the west still existed Iowa would probably win this year. That’s how much it mattered.
Last edited:
None of the above changes that the University of Iowa needs a change
If Iowa could have just kept the defense the same this year we would likely have made the 12 team playoff this year, and had a good enough team to be competitive. I obviously can’t prove that one way or another but I don’t think that opinion is out in left field.
We always had the defense, just no offense. Now we finally have a functional offense, it’s unfortunate that the defense somehow got worse. But that has nothing to do with the Big10 West going away. The last 3 years we were consistently beating teams like ISU, MSU, and UCLA.
Absolutely agree as he could definitely get the 🪓 this year but most likely he will get 1 or 2 more years to try to implement his far fetched bogus air raid … WISCO doesn’t have the athletes on the outside to be good and their qb Locke stinks up the field most of the time
My exact thoughts. Despite all the calls for "Fire Kirk" after every loss the last 10 years, I don't think it's going to achieve the desired result.
I'd put staying the same even higher...say 70%. Getting worse, 25%. Getting better 5%.
I'll go even further and say it's almost surely not going to happen. Like less than 0.1% chance of that. Which I think is just fine. Unless they are winning the CFP (if it still exists) or regularly winning in the playoffs, I'm OK with new HC every 7-10 years depending on performance and entertainment value of the product.
You are a rare bird, at least in this environment. For most here it's 3 possibilities - playoffs, championships or a waste of time.
Thanks for that breath of fresh air.
Similar threads
