The Short List: Paul Chryst

Might as well get started on the coordinator search

Iowa Football doesn’t really do coaching searches. I just turned 43 years old, and there has been exactly one head coach vacancy in my lifetime. Perhaps more shocking: There have been just four defensive coordinators since 1979 (Bill Brashier, Bobby Elliott, Norm Parker and Phil Parker) and only six offensive coordinators (Bill Snyder, Carl Jackson, Don Patterson, Ken O’Keefe, Greg Davis, Brian Ferentz). So when a coordinator position opens up, we go to FlightAware and try to have some of the fun that everyone else gets when they can their coach like tuna.

Ever since the handful of Greg Davis assistant hires, Iowa has adopted a basic template for football coaches. Paul Chryst doesn’t match that template: He didn’t play for Kirk Ferentz, he didn’t attend Iowa, and he hasn’t been coaching for a Ferentz friend or associate.

But if your stated goal is to wrest Iowa’s offensive controls away from the Ferentz family and their system, it’s going to be a matter of trust. And between offensive philosophy and pre-existing relationship, there might not be anyone more inclined to earn Kirk Ferentz’s trust than Paul Chryst.

Background

Chryst is 57 years old, and Wisconsin born and raised. Born in Madison, raised in Platteville as the son of a college football coach. Played at Wisconsin as a quarterback during the bad old days of Don Morton, then went straight into coaching.

He has been the offensive coordinator at UW-Platteville, Illinois State, Saskatchewan, Oregon State (twice), and Wisconsin. He’s had runs with Jim Heacock and Mike Riley, but will forever be linked with Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema at Wisconsin. During a seven-year run with the Badgers as coordinator, Chryst’s teams won 70 games and two Big Ten titles, and finished in the AP top 10 three times. Chryst left to take his first head coaching position at Pitt in 2012; three years later, he returned as head coach at Wisconsin, where he stayed until he was (somewhat surprisingly) fired five games into 2022.

Chryst has always operated out of a heavy run-oriented system in the mold of Alvarez’s best in Madison. While Chryst’s offenses looked a lot like Iowa’s, they also routinely outperformed the Hawkeyes.

He also has a longstanding relationship with Kirk Ferentz, having coached at two of Kirk’s favorite touchstone programs. Before a 2014 game between Iowa and Pitt, Chryst was asked about his relationship with Ferentz:

They might never have broken bread together, but the two coaches do share a mutual respect that goes back to their Midwestern roots.

"I kind of got to know him over the years," Chryst said this week. "This isn't one of those courtesy, 'Got a lot of respect for him.' I truly have a ton of respect for him as a coach and what he's done. I think he's big-time."

There are some unique things about this year's Iowa team, according to Chryst, but it still has that Ferentz trademark.

"I think he's just got a program," Chryst said. "The names change, but the style and type of football doesn't. It's pretty impressive."

Ferentz was also effusive with his praise:

And on the other side, Ferentz said this year's Pitt squad isn't exactly a carbon copy of Chryst's Wisconsin teams -- though the Panthers are certainly running the ball like the best of those Badgers squads -- but he's not surprised Chryst is starting to have some offensive success as a head coach.

"Good offensive production certainly follows Paul," Ferentz said. "The defense isn't identical to what they did at Wisconsin, but what is identical is that they play extremely hard, they're very well-coached, very disciplined and make you work for anything you're going to get."

"I've just got great, great admiration [for Chryst]," Ferentz said.

"And on top of that, maybe you guys could find somebody in the state of Wisconsin [who] would say something bad about him, but good luck."

After his termination, Chryst took an offensive analyst position with Texas, meaning he’s spent this year (1) immersed in Steve Sarkisian Air Raid concepts, bust post-Saban tenure Air Raid, and (2) immediately available for employment. You could have Chryst in the building tomorrow if you wanted.

Why Iowa Would Be Interested

There is overwhelming agreement among true Ferentz Kremlinites that removing Brian might help, but that Iowa’s next offensive coordinator will still be beholden to Kirk Ferentz’s antiquated offensive system. There is also ample evidence that Ferentz’s system has only gotten worse with the influence of Greg Davis on the passing game, and Kirk’s ongoing meddling in day-to-day operation of the offense under his son. Iowa desperately needs a coordinator with the gravitas and trust necessary to get Kirk to let up on the reins and give up on the horizontal passing offense, as well as the system that Kirk can tolerate. If you want someone readily available, with a history established with Kirk Ferentz, and an offensive philosophy close enough to Iowa’s to prevent Kirk from driving the car off the tracks, Paul Chryst looks an awful lot like a perfect candidate.

Why Chryst Would Be Interested in Iowa

He’s currently working as a low-level analyst after 20 years as a coordinator or head coach, and the school that wronged him with a knee-jerk termination last year plays Iowa every season. He’s also not likely to get hired for a head coaching position from an analyst spot, if that’s his eventual goal, and Iowa offers absolute job security and the potential for stepping into the top spot in a few years. Seems like a no-brainer for Chryst.

Why Not

Iowa will likely need Chryst (or his understudy Jon Budmayr, who we’ll tackle in a later installment) as quarterbacks coach in addition to coordinator. Chryst’s record there is somewhat lackluster: As QB coach at Wisconsin, he worked with such luminaries as John Stocco, Tyler Donovan, and Scott Tolzien, before striking gold with NC State grad transfer Russell Wilson. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row of quarterback talent, and it didn’t get much better in his time as a head coach.

There’s also Chryst’s system itself. While it may look similar to Iowa to an outside observer, Wisconsin’s offense under Chryst was less reliant on zone running concepts than Ferentz generally has been. It’s not as big a deal as it may have been in years past; for all its struggles, Iowa’s offense has been surprisingly willing to adopt gap schemes in the running game this year. But Chryst does not run Ferentz’s offense, and would likely want to stick with his system, with minor tweaks.

The Verdict

It’s not a perfect hand-in-glove match with what Iowa’s doing, but the fact is that Iowa needs to hire a coordinator that can operate an effective run-based offensive system and keep Kirk happy enough to stay out of the play-to-play decisionmaking. Chryst seems most likely to be that guy of all the candidates mentioned, and his track record shows he’d provide a more effective offense that checks a lot of boxes for Ferentz and would work seamlessly with Iowa’s other stellar units on defense and special teams. If it’s not going to be an internal candidate, Paul Chryst has to be at or near the top of the list of potential coordinators.