Broken promise?

Last week Will forwarded me a story about Tom Savage, a top high school quarterback recruit from Pennsylvania who has committed to Rutgers. Savage is the older brother of former UW quarterback Bryan Savage, who transferred away after a year or two in Madison.

As Will points out, the story paints Barry Alvarez in a less-than-favorable light, saying he promised the Savages he would not leave coaching to become the full-time athletic director. Which he of course did.

That may be true, but Barry's ascension to full-time AD was not the only reason Savage transferred. If memory serves, Savage transferred because he wasn't going to beat out John Stocco anytime soon, and he wanted to play. Savage's classmate Sean Lewis moved from quarterback to tight end, and Savage transferred to Coffeyville Community College, then became a nice contributor at Hofstra. (Hey Will, isn't that where Wayne Chrebet went?)

Apparently former UW offensive coordinator Brian White recommended Savage to the Hofstra coaching staff. White's departure after the ascension of Paul Chryst as offensive coordinator (which would have happened no matter which office Alvarez occupied) is also cited as a reason Savage left.

The point of this isn't to rag on Savage, who never did anything to hurt the program. The point is that while his family may feel like Bryan got burned by his college choice, that stuff happens in college sports, and it doesn't make Alvarez a bad guy. Tom, a Rutgers recruit, says he learned a lot by watching what Bryan went through.

What happens if Greg Schiano leaves Rutgers to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State? Schiano might give recruits his word now that he'll never leave and be 100% sincere about it at this moment. But if another university comes along and makes him an offer he can't refuse, one that's best for him and his family, can he pass it up? Then Tom, for all his learning, is in roughly the same situation as his older brother.

It's a system that's less fair to the kids than it is to coaches. But that's life, and no matter who's coaching, the cream rises to the top.

Purdue pursuing Chryst

The Lafayette Journal & Courier is reporting that Purdue is pursuing Paul Chryst to be its next coach, in a scenario like the one where Matt Painter came on board and assisted Gene Keady for a year before taking over. Interesting. For the various reasons Potrykus spells out in his story, I don't think will happen. Chryst seems like a Madison guy who is made for being a coordinator, and he knows it, but as Tom Mulhern points out in the State Journal , he did recently interview for the Washington State job.

While losing him would not be catastrophic, in my opinion, it would sting. Chryst has added a level of diversity and consistency to the Badger offense that wasn't there under Brian White and Brad Childress. Who knows, maybe it was Alvarez's influence on the scheme, and only late in his career did he embrace the importance of a competent passing game.

Chryst has done some wonderful things with the offense, most notably in 2006 when he lost all his skill players and three offensive linemen from the powerhouse 2005 unit. His role developing John Stocco and Tyler Donovan can not be understated, and he will be key to getting Allan Evridge up to speed for 2008, and hopefully Curt Phillips for the four years following.

Hopefully whatever happens, it happens quickly. We've got about a month left in the recruiting race and losing a successful offensive coordinator could really hurt.

Bill Callahan Farewell Tour

Jim Austin emailed this to me earlier this week, with the note: "may be blog-worthy is the Badgers match up with the Huskers in a mid-December bowl."

I'm pretty sure mid-December bowls are reserved for the Minnesotas and Northwesterns of the Big Ten, so I'm going to go ahead and post it now.

The situation in Lincoln is interesting. Apparently Cally has made it known he will not resign before the end of the season - Tom Osborne has to be loving that. Funny thing is, when they fired Frank Solich a few years back to guard against "slipping into mediocrity," I could see where they were coming from and sort of agree. But man, has Nebraska fallen.

And consider Callahan's slide: Super Bowl coach with the Raiders in 2002, fired after the next season, and then almost personally responsible for the steep decline in one of college football's most storied programs.

A litlle while back I jokingly broached the subject of Cally and Cosgrove rejoining the UW staff next year. Won't happen, but what if they were to join Brad Childress, Jim Hueber and friends in the Humpty Dome next year? They could turn Tarvaris Jackson into Mike Samuel 2008, or Brooks Bollinger into Brooks Bollinger 1999. They could bring back Brian White to help Adrian Peterson get better. ;)

Of course, this all assumes Chilly is back next year, which my Vikings fan friends would probably cringe at.