Losing the big ten west hurts jobs like Wisconsin. Still a good job but getting to the title game is now exponentially more difficult.
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- Thread starter BigJCy
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Getting to Big10 Championship is nice, as winning it would likely make a team a top 4 seed in the CFP. But with the expanded CFP at 12 teams and maybe 16 teams soon, IMO the real goal of schools like Wisconsin is to only lose 2-3 games a year and make the playoff.
My guess as unequal revenue sharing becomes more common, schools just getting a CFP bid will get a higher media rights payout from their conference vs. schools that don't.
Can't remember the rankings but the recruiting was going downhill fast under Chryst and that season was starting out badly.
They certainly didn't think the new hire through.
Am surprised Chryst didn't find another college job, even if it was G5. I checked Wiki and looks like his last job was as an Analyst with the Longhorns in 2023. Almost looks like he lost his drive to be a football coach. Can't blame him if he's just living off his Badgers severance.
Just goes to show that hiring coaches is an art more than a science. I thought Fickel was a HR hire at the time. Would be curious who his assistants were at Cincy and what the make up of his staff is currently at Wisconsin.
I think there was a feeling that the program was regressing, and the recruiting was way down which was going to lead to some pretty down years.
They'll fire him because they won't be able to afford not to. What do you think season ticket sales will look like next year if they bring him back? Think they'll get many donations in that scenario?
That's why Franklin was shown the door at PSU. They were literally in the playoff semi finals last year, objectively they had every excuse in the world to keep him for another year. When the big donors say not another dime with that coach, that coach is gone.
Selfishly I hope they do keep him, that roster will be pre-Alverez bad next year if he's the coach.
Yeah I agree with you. They’d have to move on from him at that point. It would cost more financially to keep him than dump him.
But I think they’re definitely giving him more time though to try and win 2 more games and justify keeping him though, thus avoiding paying that buyout.
The college football playoff will become like the NCAA basketball tournament, getting into the tournament will be what is important for every school but those at the top, the Ohio States and Alabama's of the world. For everyone else, getting into the tournament will be the goal and what coaches are graded on.
Its very possible that if the AD is disliked by many as people are suggesting, then they move on from both the AD and Fickell at the end of the season. Donors are calling the shots these days along with the networks, if the donors threaten to cut off the money flowing into Wisconsin, those in power will have no choice but to can both of them.
If the staff at Wisconsin is retained for another season after the year they are having, the AD is putting his future at risk. They are going to be lucky to win more than one game the rest of the season, so finishing at 3-9 is a very real possibility, 1-8 in conference. Going to be hard to convince the donors to give money or people to purchase tickets for next season under those circumstances.
Fickell has been there for three seasons now and has a losing record, at a school that has had a lot of success in the past, even if it was in the B10 least division. This is not a Purdue that has not had winning records, but a program that has shown for years that they are at worst a 8 to 9 win team. Thinking the coach is going to turn it around in season four is risking a lot for the AD. Guy is betting his job on it.
I.e. they don’t have the buyout money.
Good, about time some of these ADs come under fire for the terrible contracts they’ve given out.
I don’t disagree, but I’m telling you they’re sweating that money. They don’t have it. So they need to get real creative to come up with the dollars
the AD should be fired for offering that extension this offseason. What had Fickell done to deserve it? He was already on the hot seat. Just throwing away money.
The boosters will force the issue and come up with enough money to make the buyout happen. I get the feeling that both Wisconsin and EIU is in the same boat, they are rolling in a lot of money, but between facility upgrades and law suits, its going out as fast as its coming in. Both are like a lot of farmers, rich on paper and struggling to pay the bills because they have both been building and spending like drunken sailors back from overseas.
Is is still important for an AD to extend a coach more than a couple years in advance if the coach isn't doing a great job? Seems like the mantra about hurting recruiting holds less weight in the portal and NIL era.
It also seems like coaches that are struggling, choose to reload with portal guys to keep their job vs. relying on 25 HS recruits.
Yep. Who was going to hire Fickell away from WI without that extension? NO ONE.
These ADs too often negotiate against themselves.
how is the buyout structured? Most of the time it's paid out in the same way the salary would have been paid out (so 5-10 million a year depending on what the coaches salary was) Some have a duty to mitigate (which Franklin had) which requires the coach to seek another job to limit the payout PSU pays him. There are a few really bad contracts that require the entire buyout within 30 days (I think Stoops at Kentucky has this, which is why he's still employed)
If AI is correct, his buyout it 80% of his contract so roughly 25 million paid out in monthly installments. That's not that hard to come up with and fairly simple to budget (though obviously schools would rather not)
