jmblue

November 14th, 2021 at 7:16 PM ^

The one example I can think of is John Cooper being replaced with Tressel.  But his program was dealing with NCAA issues, including players competing with 0.0 GPAs.  It wasn't strictly about wins and losses.

In any event, Cooper was there for 13 years - the longest tenure of any OSU coach since Woody Hayes.

Hoek

November 14th, 2021 at 5:08 PM ^

I wonder how the transfer (can't think of his name off the top of my head) feels about his decision? Washington has been a debacle all year.

alum96

November 14th, 2021 at 7:56 PM ^

Worthy has 49 catches for 831 yards wlth 11 TDs and 17 ypc as a true freshman, and is headed to the NFL draft in the early rounds, in a modern office that uses WRs.   Still has a few games to go. He will be drafted high and not be on the list of skill players that have potential but we just don't know so let's draft them in the 5th round and see if we knew more then UM about them. 

Our top 2 receivers combined have that many catches.  (excluding TEs) 

Ronnie Bell had 48 catches his best year for comparison.  

Worthy made a great decision and will be a 1st/2nd round pick - he would not be showcased here.  We are Wisconsin.  

 

TexasMaizeNBlue

November 14th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^

I feel that everyone claims Milton is "gifted."

 

My question is why? Because he can throw a football further than a lot of human beings? 

He's a terrible football player. Not trying to take a shot at the young man, but no pocket awareness, absolutely zero touch on (you pick it) short/medium/long throws,  and has no chance of reading a defense.

 

Ezekiels Creatures

November 14th, 2021 at 5:08 PM ^

Translation: the team has taken a nose dive since Chris Peterson and Pete Kwiatkowski have left. Oh, and he pushed a player.

ScoutExile

November 14th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^

There was also the incident where a certain player was filmed screaming vulgarities (at minors?) while exiting the tunnel at Michigan Stadium.

I feel for Lake because he was probably trying to get control of a totally undisciplined team. In the end, it just didn’t happen.

Ezekiels Creatures

November 14th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^

To try to cut some slack to Giles Jackson, his move to Washington turned out to be maybe the worst West Coast team he could have chosen. But at the time of choosing, Washington was projected to be a contender for the PAC12 title. Then they lose to Montana. And then Michigan dominates them.

A decision turning out that bad can be a lot to handle.

But still, he shouldn't have done it.

TexasMaizeNBlue

November 14th, 2021 at 6:34 PM ^

End of the day, I feel he just wasn't good enough to play here.

Bell was going to be WR #1, CJ #2.

It was evident Wilson was also just better at football than Jackson. Leaving out Sainristil, Henning and Anthony,  at best Giles would have been the #4 target. 

 

WayOfTheRoad

November 14th, 2021 at 7:03 PM ^

Things have generally trended negatively for both JC and Jackson lately but of the two UM is in better shape for JC. 

If UW gets a hire done quickly a lot can change in a single conversation or visit. When a kid is willing to go across the country they'd often rather stay close to home. When they want to leave the area there is still usually factors that make staying home an option. That's all recruiting 101 stuff, not inside or personal info.

If a betting man I'd say JC ends up at UM after a late push by UW and Jackson goes to Bama in the yearly "5 star loves Michigan but hands them the silver medal" recruitment that is just tradition at this point.

 

JBLPSYCHED

November 14th, 2021 at 5:36 PM ^

Wow, they didn't even try to fire him for cause. I'm no lawyer but striking a player on camera can't be ok can it? I mean...if they fire him for cause and he sues (all but inevitable) then UW has their day in court. This way they just cave and pay him the $$$. I guess they skip the legal costs and the drawn out neg publicity but wow. Maybe the ghost of Rick Neuheisel is out there somewhere. These schools just cut bait and move on. It's a revolving door...or a roulette wheel.

Dr. Funkenstein

November 15th, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^

suspending a guy for one game and then trying to turn around and fire him for the same thing a week later (without any new information coming to light) is asking for a massive lawsuit that you aren't likely to win....if they were going to fire him for cause it needed to be after that incident and even then it wasn't a clear cut thing and they'd be on shaky ground....

Jon06

November 15th, 2021 at 4:50 AM ^

They'd totally win the lawsuit. You just make the immediate supervisor a patsy for doling out only a suspension for an obviously fireable offense.

We don't know what the buyout they're paying is. I bet it's not the full payout. The suspension was presumably only to give them time to negotiate a lower buyout, with the idea that he agrees or gets fired for cause and has to go to court to try to get anything.

Dr. Funkenstein

November 15th, 2021 at 5:46 AM ^

so now you're trying to fire two people for cause and have to deal with the additional lawsuit from the supervisor you made into a patsy (who probably made that decision out of a huge committee meeting with many higher ups and notes would have been recorded)....I don't have the legal background to say who wins in this scenario, perhaps you do (and even then, doesn't it always depend on the lawyers and judges involved), but again it seems like if you were going to straight up fire the guy it'd have be as part of the punishment for the incident which they already handled in this case with a one game suspension....In terms of negotiating a lower buyout, I don't have any experience in that area with how that works, so can't comment there.....

bfeeavveerr

November 14th, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^

He is a bad head coach and a bad recruiter. And the program lacks discipline. But otherwise , things were going smoothly.

Eng1980

November 14th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^

I am still not sure why he keeps/kept the safeties so deep all game long.  I was told back in the 70's that the safety is the safety is the safety but that far back all season has to be a record (doesn't it?) if anyone keeps tabs on that metric.

ChicagoBlue21

November 14th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^

I’m genuinely surprised at what a tire fire UW has been. Lake seemed to be a fantastic up and coming coach. Of course I said the same thing about Rick Neuheisel, Dan Hawkins and Gary Barnett…man has Colorado had some bad luck with coaches.

Don

November 14th, 2021 at 6:13 PM ^

Dan Hawkins was the one that really puzzled me—his resume seemed like a guaranteed winner at a place like CU.

Barnett's career at CU wasn't exactly terrible—he won or shared four BIG 12 North titles—but it was scandal-plagued and ultimately it was his undoing. He seems to be kind of a scumbag.

BlueMk1690

November 14th, 2021 at 6:19 PM ^

That's what tends to happen when before the season people say you'll be a contender for a conference title and even the CFP due to a lot of returning talent and a manageable schedule and you end up potentially missing bowl eligibility entirely.

Blue Vet

November 14th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^

Others may be right that it's an overreaction to fire a coach for swatting a player.

However, the university's statement referred to "a variety of reasons, both on and off the field." A few reasons occur to me:

• Smacking someone. Few areas of public life make it acceptable to smack a fellow human being, whether or not it causes injury.

• Failure of leadership/Denial of dignity. No one in a university is allowed to hit a student in their charge. Whether a slug or a glancing blow, it violates human dignity.

• Losing control. A major representative of a public institution can't be so ruled by angry emotions that they act on them.

• Repeated act. A report said Lake earlier shoved a player in a locker.

• "have academic prowess." It's embarrassing that your public representative claims to have higher standards BUT uses an awkward phrase that's not smart.

• Add the team's poor record under his leadership, and that helps tilt the scale toward firing.