It won’t be a Merry “Chryst”-mas or Merry “Crist”-Mas for the Wisconsin Badgers football program. C’mon that headline was begging to be used… In a matter of a few hours, Wisconsin lost a Chryst and a Crist. Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst has been hired as the new head coach at Pitt while former Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist has decided to transfer to Kansas instead of UW.
It was believed that Crist’s decision would be affected by whether or not Chryst returned as the Badgers’ offensive coordinator. Paul Chryst obviously did a terrific job with transfer Russell Wilson this season and the former Irish signal caller was interested in having a similar experience, learning under Chryst’s tutelage and playing in a pro-style offense. However, hours after reports began to leak that Chryst was heading to Pitt, Crist made his decision known via Twitter that he will join his former head coach at Notre Dame and new Jayhawks head coach, Charlie Weis.
This is a fairly significant blow for the Badgers as they will lose Wilson after the Rose Bowl and have major questions regarding their other quarterbacks heading into next season. Jon Budmayr is dealing with an arm injury that cost him the entire 2011 season while Curt Phillips is recovering from his second straight knee injury and has not taken a game snap since the 2009 season. If those two guys are not healthy next fall, that leaves current back-up Joe Brennan, walk-on Joel Stave, and highly-touted in-coming freshman Bart Houston to compete for the starting job next season.
Paul Chryst’s exit could open the door for current Wisconsin offensive line coach Bob Bostad to be promoted to offensive coordinator. Bret Bielema has shown a tendency to promote from within his own staff, but if Bostad is passed over for the offensive coordinator job, he could end up joining Chryst at Pitt. Tight ends coach Joe Rudolph and running backs coach Thomas Hammock could also be plucked from UW by Chryst as candidates for the offensive coordinator job at Pitt.
It will also be interesting to see if Chryst leaving has any impact on running back Montee Ball or center Peter Konz’s decision to declare early for the NFL Draft. Both players will decide their future after the Badgers face Oregon in the Rose Bowl.