Yeah, and just to clarify the timeline a bit, the transfer portal technically doesn’t open until Jan. 2. Conversations are absolutely happening behind the scenes right now, but actual portal additions won’t start becoming official until next week. Once that door opens, things tend to move fast.
As for the coaching piece, expanding the staff is really just Wisconsin mirroring what a lot of other programs are already doing. With the removal of coaching limits, if you feel good about a coach and think he adds value, it makes sense to add where you can, in my opinion. Coaching and player development have never mattered more than they do right now, especially when you need guys to contribute quickly. If additional voices help accelerate that process, then it feels like a logical move.
I’m not sure it’s totally fair to say Paul Haynes did a terrible job, but there’s also no getting around the fact that the product just wasn’t good enough in 2025. Bringing in a new voice this offseason felt like a possibility. You don’t want to lean on excuses, especially when you have a player like Ricardo Hallman in the room, but context still matters. The Nyzier Fourqurean situation was a mess, and was a guy they were counting on, and they also thought they were going to have Xavier Lucas in the mix at one point before that debacle. But this move feels a little peculiar to me.
I won’t pretend to know if Robert Steeples is a good hire. In the same vein, I thought it was fair a year ago to question whether Jack Cooper was the best possible answer at safeties coach after losing Alex Grinch. Now that coaching limits no longer exist, this clearly gives the staff more flexibility and probably makes them feel better about the overall structure of the Badgers' secondary. I get the logic. I just don’t know if it moves the needle on paper a whole lot right now. That might be unfair, and we won’t really know until we see how it plays out, but if I’m being honest, I’m a little underwhelmed.
Is it just me but December seems surreal.....We're losing players and adding coaches ?
Yeah, and just to clarify the timeline a bit, the transfer portal technically doesn’t open until Jan. 2. Conversations are absolutely happening behind the scenes right now, but actual portal additions won’t start becoming official until next week. Once that door opens, things tend to move fast.
As for the coaching piece, expanding the staff is really just Wisconsin mirroring what a lot of other programs are already doing. With the removal of coaching limits, if you feel good about a coach and think he adds value, it makes sense to add where you can, in my opinion. Coaching and player development have never mattered more than they do right now, especially when you need guys to contribute quickly. If additional voices help accelerate that process, then it feels like a logical move.
So they moved the guy who did such a terrible job with the corner backs to oversee the entire secondary. Makes sense to me.
I’m not sure it’s totally fair to say Paul Haynes did a terrible job, but there’s also no getting around the fact that the product just wasn’t good enough in 2025. Bringing in a new voice this offseason felt like a possibility. You don’t want to lean on excuses, especially when you have a player like Ricardo Hallman in the room, but context still matters. The Nyzier Fourqurean situation was a mess, and was a guy they were counting on, and they also thought they were going to have Xavier Lucas in the mix at one point before that debacle. But this move feels a little peculiar to me.
I won’t pretend to know if Robert Steeples is a good hire. In the same vein, I thought it was fair a year ago to question whether Jack Cooper was the best possible answer at safeties coach after losing Alex Grinch. Now that coaching limits no longer exist, this clearly gives the staff more flexibility and probably makes them feel better about the overall structure of the Badgers' secondary. I get the logic. I just don’t know if it moves the needle on paper a whole lot right now. That might be unfair, and we won’t really know until we see how it plays out, but if I’m being honest, I’m a little underwhelmed.