Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema made a coaching move three weeks into the 2012 season. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE)
In today’s college football, patience is non-existent.
Coaches are making more money than they ever have before, and with that comes heightened expectations from fans and alumni. Whether it’s validated are not, it is what it is.
Winning has become the ultimate barometer of a program, and, in some cases, it doesn’t matter how it is achieved considering the last few seasons we’ve seen multiple programs hit with NCAA violations for illegally recruiting, compensating players with illegal benefits and so on and so on.
Already three weeks into the college football season, we have seen one coordinator resign and one get fired.
The first to go was Houston offensive coordinator Mike Nesbitt, who resigned the Monday after the Cougars were taken to the woodshed by new FBS member Texas State 30-13 (I have to say, that was embarrassing) in their season opener in Week One. The Cougars scored just 13 points, which tied for the second-fewest points by a Houston team since 2007.
“We wish Mike the best in his future endeavors and thank him for his contributions to the program,” head coach Tony Levine said when he announced the coaching change.
Following Week Two, Wisconsin offensive line coach Mike Markuson, who had coached just two games with the Badgers since joining the coaching staff from Ole Miss, was fired after the team’s disappointing 10-7 loss to Oregon State.
“As of today (Monday), officially, we’ve moved on in a transition at the offensive line position,” coach Bret Bielema said.
The Badgers mustered only 35 yards on the ground and were just 2 of 14 on third downs. Players and coaches sited communication issues as the main factor in the offensive debacle against the Beavers.
“There just wasn’t any room down there,” Bielema said following the loss to the Beavers. “We didn’t handle the pressure very well and they brought some pressure. They did a really nice job of controlling the line of scrimmage.”
Despite losing offensive line coach Bob Bostad , who currently coaches the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive line, three quality starters on the offensive line and quarterback Russell Wilson, who is starting for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, Markuson was the one who took the fall for the Badgers performance and not the players. Just one year after Wisconsin steamrolled Oregon State, 35-0, at Camp Randall Stadium, it was a shocking turn of events for a team that was an 8-point favorite on the road.
Wisconsin currently sit 103rd nationally in rushing after finishing 11th last year. And just one year removed from back-to-back 3,000-yard rushing seasons, Wisconsin has just 267 yards on 70 carries entering its third game.
So as the season moves forward, it will be interesting to see if these early to midseason firings start to become a trend in college football. In the fast-paced, want-it-now world we currently live in; patience seems like a word that will be used less and less when it comes to coaches’ job security.
