Wisconsin HC Paul Chryst Fired After 2-3 Start; Jim Leonhard Named Interim HC

A 24-point loss to Illinois was apparently the final straw for Wisconsin.

The Badgers fired head football coach Paul Chryst on Sunday and made defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard the interim head coach in a corresponding move:

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg initially reported the story.

ESPN's Pete Thamel shared the contractual details:

Things started going wrong for Wisconsin in its second game of the year when it lost at home to Washington State 17-14 despite finishing with a 401-253 advantage in total yards. Three turnovers and 11 penalties for 106 yards proved to be the team's undoing.

Following a get-right win over New Mexico State, the Badgers lost 52-21 at Ohio State.

Losing to the Buckeyes is hardly a fireable offense, as Wisconsin has now lost nine straight in the series and, like most of the teams in the country, cannot match up from a talent standpoint. Rather, the 24-point loss at home to Illinois in the following game was the performance that simply wasn't up to the program's standards.

Still, Chryst had been largely successful in his role.

He began as the head coach at the start of the 2015 campaign and went 67-26. The Badgers won double-digit games in four of his six full seasons not counting the shortened 2020 schedule and reached the Big Ten Championship Game three times.

Wisconsin entered one of those conference title games undefeated in 2017 and would have made the College Football Playoff with a win, but it fell short against Ohio State. It also lost to the Buckeyes in the 2019 Big Ten title game and fell to Penn State in the 2016 version.

That, in short, is the story of Wisconsin football.

It is typically a contender in the Big Ten West but is at least a step behind the true College Football Playoff contenders such as Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and others. It showed in the conference title games under Chryst.

Fortunately for the Badgers, they are still in the thick of the Big Ten West race despite an 0-2 start in conference play. Every other team in the division has a loss, and Wisconsin doesn't play Michigan or Penn State after getting its cross-divisional game against Ohio State over with early in the season.

That could open the door for Leonhard, who played at Wisconsin prior to a 10-year NFL career, to lead a late season turnaround. That would help his case if he is looking to parlay his interim opportunity into becoming the long-term head coach of his alma mater.