Some schools are firing their coaches at the drop of a hat, others are Wisconsin.
There are a lot of college football head coaching jobs open right now. UAB, Colorado State, and Oregon State have all fired their head coaches at the Group of 6 level, and then Stanford, UCLA, Virginia
Tech, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Auburn, Penn State, Florida, and LSU are all open at the power conference level. It’s barely November and we have this many major openings, it’s hard to believe.
Wisconsin is going to zig when everyone else is zagging. Wisconsin announced they’re going to bring back Luke Fickell in 2026, to the surprise of many. Not the least of which is the buyout, which is north of $25 million. But it goes more than that, plenty of other schools are forking up much larger buyouts to fire their coaches.
Brian Kelly’s buyout is $53 million, James Franklin’s buyout is $49 million, Billy Napier is owed $21 million, while Hugh Freeze and Mike Gundy were each owed more than $15 million.
Wisconsin has a proud history over the last 35 years, since the hiring of Barry Alvarez. From 1990 to 2005, Alvarez steered the Badgers to 6 top 25 finishes and 9 seasons of 8 wins or better, including four 10 win seasons. Then Bret Bielema kept the train rolling, followed by Gary Anderson, and then Paul Chryst. The job Chryst did was underrated, but things slipped a little at the end and he was fired. Wisconsin was able to hire Fickell away from Cincinnati.
But things have changed, a lot, in the last 5 years. Wisconsin hasn’t kept up. Their talent level, their playing style, all of it hasn’t kept up. With everything going on in College Football, Wisconsin has struggled to keep up. And the Badgers are now winless in the Big 10.
In basketball, we’ve seen a move where programs will opt to keep a coach and spend in the transfer portal in hopes to fix two problems. Maybe Wisconsin, a program without the deep pockets and robust booster set of places like Florida, LSU and Auburn, thinks they can fix their problems with patience. Choosing to believe in their head coach, a man who has been really successful until recently, to figure it out.
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it works out for them.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
With basketball back, and Football off the bye week, you’d think this week would feel busy but for me it’s also the first time in months I haven’t had something to write. So even just a few days off feels like an eternity!
- Mizzou Volleyball kept it close, but couldn’t overcome 2nd ranked Kentucky at Hearnes last night. They fell 3-1, but it was very competitive, click the link to read Colin’s recap.
- The man of the hour is still Matt Zollers, and what can be expected of him. Rory wrote up how things are shaping up for the true freshman:
The five-star recruit out of high school has an absolute cannon of an arm as well as a quick release. Without going too much into detail, HC Eli Drinkwitz said while the full playbook won’t be on the cards for Saturday, they will be able to “push things in the playbook that maybe haven’t been shown” because there are some things he is more comfortable with than Pribula.
The main difference between the two QBs, I think, is natural talent as a thrower. Pribula has had to teach himself to be a good passer, Zollers looks like he came out of the womb ready to throw a football. That doesn’t always mean he’ll be an elite QB, but the talent throwing the ball is probably better than anyone Missouri has had since Drew Lock.
- BOWL PROJECTIONS: Still a ways to go, but the Tigers are 22nd in the CFP rankings:
With upcoming games vs No. 3 Texas A&M and at No. 12 Oklahoma, the Tigers will certainly have their opportunity to move up the rankings.
There are always opportunities. I think Missouri can beat both Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Now will they? That’s another question.
- Opponents Q&A with our old friend Robert Behrens at Good Bull Hunting:
As far as weaknesses, this team doesn’t have many glaring ones, which is a big part of why A&M fans are so optimistic. But one area they do struggle is giving up big plays in the run game, ranking No. 99 nationally in giving up running plays of 20+ yards. Against Ahmad Hardy, that is one stat that could be cause for concern.
So you’re saying there’s a chance… I think the key is going to be forcing A&M into a couple turnovers, and getting the run game going again. It’s a playbook that’s doable.
- True’s WHAT’S THE TREND is back for a Week 10 look at the Tigers:
With Brett Norfleet questionable to play on Saturday, and obviously Beau Pribula out, the team is missing some key leaders from the offense. The Tigers will be relying on freshmen like Matt Zollers, Donovan Olugbode and Jude James to take a load of the work, and who knows how it’ll go.
That being said, if it does work out, that is super exciting for Tigers fans. But poise and leadership means a lot, not to mention the Tigers lost talented guys.
It’s true that Norfleet is questionable, I still think the key for Mizzou is going to be the OL and the running game moreso than anything in the passing game.
BASKETBALL THINGS!
- With their season opener on the road behind them, Dennis Gates and crew (this time a literal Crews, as in Jacob!) held a press conference to preview the weekend’s two games, Matt G was there:
“This phase is about getting better. We transition from our fight and focus thing, and now we’re in that rhythm and resilience thing that our team is really taking a liking to. And I’m excited to see what results, not just in a game, but through the process, week by week, day by day, it brings to our growth. And our growth is going to be the most important thing in this juncture of the season.”
SEMO should be a quality matchup, and the Tigers are likely to still be missing some pieces
- Then WBB moved to 2-0 on the season with a road W over Tulane, Dylan has the write up:
Missouri separated themselves in the third quarter, outscoring Tulane 22-13 to take a 55-44 lead they would hold the rest of the game. Mizzou came out of halftime swinging with a triple from Abbey Schreacke and a steal-and-score finished with a layup from Shannon Dowell to force a Tulane timeout. This was part of a 13-3 run to push the lead to a dozen, with six of those points coming off Schreacke triples.
OVER on ROCK M+
The lineup review has been posted by Matt Harris, it’s one of my favorite things on RM+ because it’s wonky and incredibly insightful into how the game flowed:
For all of Gates’ tinkering, MU’s game plan was decidedly vanilla. The Tigers spent the opening minutes trying to pound the ball inside, and once Northweather checked in, it shifted toward punishing Howard on secondary fastbreaks. When MU had to run offense, it dialed up ball screens out of five-out alignments.
It worked, too. MU built a 20-point lead in the first 13 minutes, averaging 1.5 points per possession and only coughing the ball up twice.
Yes it’s granular, but there are always things you miss the first time around. Film, data, and review are important to what’s going on. Subscribe if you haven’t already to read more.
Forums Talk
True spent some time updating things on every Mizzou commitment, and every target, truly Yeomans work:
This list will get updated as we learn more but here are the known visitors for the final two home games of the season. I’ll update this as more confirmed visits come along.
We’re also still parsing through results from the start of the basketball season, and Matt H has a SEMO preview up already.
Rock M Radio: BTBS returns to preview A&M
Majority Rules returned this week, Dive Cuts will be back soon. And there are MORE podcasts out there to check out coming up.
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