Happy Wednesday! To anyone who watched the Sugar Bowl: what's the over/under for hours until Terrelle Pryor's ring is up for sale on eBay? I kid, I kid.. sort of. Now that I have my OSU potshot of the day out of the way, here are your Badger Bits for today!
Needless to day, with the rumor mill swirling yesterday around some key Wisconsin football staff members, it looks like this is going to be a pretty important week for Badger football in 2011 and beyond. The intertubes were all a twitter yesterday with rumors that either Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst or offensive line coach Bob Bostad (or both, for that matter,) were set to join the Texas Longhorns staff. Tom Mulhern of Madison.com says that Chryst was tight-lipped upon his return to Wisconsin, and that he might give Bret Bielema and Barry Alvarez a chance to make a counter-offer.
Obviously, losing Chryst would be a major problem for the Badgers going into 2011. Not only did his offense set school records in 2010, but he is also the team's quarterbacks coach. I highly doubt Bielema likes the idea of having to break in both a new quarterback and a quarterbacks coach next year.
More Badger Bits after the jump!
As if potentially losing a great offensive coordinator wasn't enough, a few more decisions about the football team should be announced relatively soon. In the same article, Mulhern says that Bielema knows what he wants to do with the vacancy created by the departure of defensive coordinator Dave Doeren, and will announce his decision soon. Also, juniors J.J. Watt and John Clay are expected to announce their intentions for the 2011 season sometime this week.Football
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says that Bielema was blasted for his performance during the Rose Bowl. I'm not sure how many times this point will need to be made clear, but I feel it's appropriate for the radio hosts mentioned in the article: Bret Bielema does not call offensive plays. Criticizing him for not running the ball up the middle makes about as much sense as criticizing John Clay for not making enough stops on defense. It just doesn't apply.
Jeff Potrykus of the Journal-Sentinel writes that Chryst will have to make some tough decisions about his career and whether or not to take the job at Texas.
Hockey
The Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team is set to host "Geoffrion Night" this Friday, in order to honor the Hobey Baker winning former Badger.
Chuck Schwartz at Sixty Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets. has done another version of his Bracketology.
Basketball
What's that you ask? Why yes, there is a men's basketball game tonight. The Badgers will host the Michigan Wolverines tonight at 7:30.
Rob Schultz of Madison.com writes that while it may be raining 3-pointers, that's the way Bo Ryan likes it.
Schultz also writes that the Badgers will need more production out of their backups to be successful this year.
See you on Friday everyone!