Wisconsin football: Paul Chryst comes in at No. 17 in CBS Sports coaches ranking

Each year CBS Sports brings together a panel of seven analysts that rank where they feel each Power-5 coach stands across the landscape.

After being ranked No. 23 back in 2019, Wisconsin Badgers head coach Paul Chryst rose up six spots to No. 17 in the latest installment published today.

Chryst is oftentimes dinged on these types of rankings because he has followed the blueprint set forth by Barry Alvarez 30 years ago, but over his five years as head coach at Wisconsin he has had only one season that did not result in at least 10 wins, and has won four of his five bowl appearances.

The article states that Chryst is: “another special case, one in which you feel like he’s never getting as much credit as he deserves for what he’s done at Wisconsin, but at the same time, you guard yourself against giving him too much props. In the end, you get a deserved spot in the top 20, but not the top 15, and that seems about right. He’s 52-16 at Wisconsin and has won three division titles in five seasons, but you still don’t get the sense his program is on the same tier as Ohio State. You aren’t even sure you’d put it up there with Penn State. Until he breaks through with a conference title, it’s hard to imagine he gets much higher than this.”

Looking around the Big Ten, Paul Chryst is the sixth highest ranked coach in the conference, with James Franklin (No. 9 overall), Ryan Day (No. 10 overall), Jim Harbaugh (No. 12 overall), Kirk Ferentz (No. 14 overall), and PJ Fleck (No. 15 overall) each landing in front of him.

Chryst will undoubtedly have a chance to continue his climb up the rankings with games against Harbaugh, Ferentz, Fleck, and Brian Kelly (No. 5 overall) on the schedule next year.

You can see the complete rankings No. 1 through No. 25 here and the rankings from No. 26 to No. 65 here.

Let us know where you think Chryst should be ranked below.