COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football exposed exactly how far Wisconsin has fallen as a Big Ten power with a 52-21 victory on Sept. 24.
Yet the final straw for the Badgers’ administration with coach Paul Chryst came in Saturday’s 34-10 home loss to Illinois and former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema. Chryst was fired Sunday, ending his tenure in the fifth game of his eighth season.
Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was installed as interim head coach. The former Badgers star and longtime NFL player has shown up on some speculative candidate lists for some of the other head coaching openings that have popped up midseason. Perhaps Wisconsin wanted to audition Leonhard for the main job for the rest of the season rather than let him walk away in a couple of months.
Regardless, the program had veered away from its previous identity as the Big Ten West’s premier program.
Chryst led the Badgers to 10-win seasons in four of his first five years. In that fifth season, 2019, the Badgers led OSU at halftime of the Big Ten championship game before the Buckeyes rallied to win and qualified for the playoff.
Including that loss, Wisconsin is 15-12 since, including this season’s 2-3 start. That includes a 17-14 home loss to Washington State, the lopsided loss at OSU and Saturday’s embarrassment at the hands of Bielema’s Illini.
Chryst continued Wisconsin’s identity of strong rushing games and stout defenses. Yet the Badgers never developed a quarterback who could take the program to the next step of national relevance. The latest project to fall short is Graham Mertz, a top-100 prospect who has never played consistently well, especially against the Big Ten’s other top teams.
This was almost certain to be the third consecutive season in which the Badgers did not reach the Big Ten championship game. With Leonhard emerging as an intriguing young head coaching candidate in the industry, Wisconsin could not let the current trend linger.
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