Bruce Feldman reveals what Paul Chryst's firing means for the Nebraska coaching search

Wisconsin‘s surprising decision to part ways with coach Paul Chryst on Sunday could have an effect on the coaching search at Nebraska, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.

Feldman took to Twitter to weigh in on the situation, saying the performance of interim coach Jim Leonhard could determine whether the Badgers go after one of the Cornhuskers’ top candidates.

“One intriguing aspect of the Badgers making this coaching move now is it gives Jim Leonhard seven regular season games to show what he can do running the Wisconsin program,” Feldman wrote. “…If you’re a Nebraska fan, you might want to root for Jim Leonhard to win almost all of those seven games–save for the Nov. 19 game in Lincoln–so the Badgers don’t try and hire Wisconsin native Lance Leipold before the Huskers could.”

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Leipold is in his second season as the head coach at Kansas, but likely won’t have to stay past this year if he doesn’t want to. He has the Jayhawks off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 2009 and ranked No. 19 in the AP poll, their first appearance in 13 seasons.

Leipold is a native of Wisconsin and spent eight years as the head coach at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater, which is also his alma mater. However, he has experience as a Nebraska assistant from 2001-03, so would be forced into a tough decision if he had to choose between the Badgers and Huskers.

Nebraska parted ways with coach Scott Frost after three games this season, allowing the Cornhuskers to get an early start on their coaching search. Mickey Joseph has operated as the interim head coach since then, and led the team to a 35-21 victory against Indiana this past week.

Wisconsin parts ways with head coach Paul Chryst

Wisconsin has parted ways with head football coach Paul Chryst, ESPN’s Adam Rittenburg reported Sunday. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will take over as the interim head coach for the remainder of 2022.

Chryst was in his eighth season as the Badgers coach, having compiled a 67-26 record in that span. He is the third-winningest coach in program history and led Wisconsin to an Orange Bowl victory in 2017 and a Rose Bowl appearance in 2019. However, he was off to just a 2-3 start this season.

Chryst is a former Badgers quarterback who took over the head coaching position in 2015 following three seasons as the head coach at Pittsburgh. Prior to that, he was an offensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2005-11.

Based on the terms of Chryst’s contract, this move could cost the school as much as $16.4 million in a buyout, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. For reference, this buyout will cost the school $1.4 million more than it cost Nebraska to let go of Scott Frost and, needless to say, Chryst had much more success than Frost. In his seven full seasons in Madison, Chryst never failed to make a bowl game while Frost never had a winning season.