Following Paul Chryst's Firing, Purdue Scheduled to Play Interim Coaches in Consecutive Games
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Wisconsin football program parted ways with head coach Paul Chryst on Sunday following a 34-10 loss to Illinois in Week 5. Jim Leonhard will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Chryst's firing comes less than a month after Nebraska let go of coach Scott Frost and announced Mickey Joseph as the interim. The coaching changes are causing a bit of a shakeup in what is currently a tight race in the Big Ten West.
Jeff Brohm and the Purdue football team are now slated to go up against the interim coaches in back-to-back weeks following its upcoming road matchup with Maryland on Saturday.
"Well, that's college football nowadays," Brohm said. "You feel for everybody because you know a lot of guys put a lot of hard work and time into it, and it's not easy. It's very competitive. Every week, you're one play away from winning or losing.
"That's just why you've got to be driven to work as hard as you can and do everything possible as a head coach, as a staff, as players, to go out there and compete and win."
Since Frost's firing, the Cornhuskers are 1-1 under Joseph and sit at 2-3 on the season. The team lost 49-14 against Oklahoma in Week 4 before earning its second victory of the season in a 35-21 win over Indiana on Saturday.
Joseph is in his first season with the Cornhuskers, originally joining the team as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. Nebraska is scheduled to play Rutgers on Friday before taking on Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 15, inside Ross-Ade Stadium.
As for Leonhard, he spent the last six years as the Wisconsin defensive coordinator before assuming the role of interim head coach. The Badgers — who are currently 2-3 and 0-2 in the conference — will play the Boilermakers on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisc.
Brohm commented on the pressure coaches across the country face at the college level, especially within programs that have an expectation for success. In his sixth season in West Lafayette, he has led Purdue to an overall record of 31-31.
"All you can do is put your head down and work as hard as you can and let the pieces fall where they may," Brohm said. "But I do think that working at football year-round and studying and figuring out ways to have answers to things is just vital. We've just got to put our head down and go to work and do the best job we can."
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