Mike Tressell showing out the same week 2 former Wisconsin DCs were fired is beyond telling

Mike Tressel put up a defensive coaching clinic on Saturday against USC. If it wasn't for a ref seeking out contact on the sideline, Tressel and the Badger defense could have pitched a shutout. Which would have been the first time ever that a Lincoln Riley-coached team was shut out. Even the seven points scored by USC were a career low for a Riley team. So, the job was accomplished for Tressel and company. While this was happening, two former Wisconsin defensive coordinators were fired.

He did such a great job that the CBS Sports crew named him the defensive coordinator of the week. USC was flying high; people were labeling them the best offense in the Big Ten, and they crashed to the ground in one week, running into Tressel's defense. Not to mention that the Trojans rushed for NEGATIVE 17 yards.

Wisconsin saw 2 of their former defensive coordinators get canned

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Mike Tressel was proving he's one of the best defensive coordinators in college football. Two former Wisconsin defensive coordinators who also made their names as defensive wizards were fired as head coaches.

Dave Doeren was the first to go; NC State decided they'd seen enough of the product that Doeren was putting on the field. He had been the head coach of the Wolfpack since 2013, and yet it was 2026 that finally undid him. Doeren left Wisconsin to be the head coach of Northern Illinois, left for NC State after finding success as a head coach, and even had some decent success in his years at NC State, but after starting the season 3-4 and 1-3 in his conference, it was time to send him packing.

He's never quite been able to get NC State over the hump, hovering around 7-9 total wins per season but never more than seven in the conference, with five (ish) being the norm. That's just not going to cut it nowadays. NC State still owes him around $10 million.

The other former defensive coordinator for Wisconsin who was given the boot this weekend was Dave Aranda, head coach of the Baylor Bears. He was a hot name in the coaching world in 2021 after taking a 2-win Bears team to a 12-win team. Yet, that was the height of his success. Since 2021, he's gone: 6-7, 3-9, 8-5, 5-7, and now, after starting 4-3, he's fired.

Baylor still owes him $12 million. That is a lot of money to pull the trigger mid-season, but it seems as if 2021 was the anomaly, not the norm.

Aranda was the defensive coordinator for Wisconsin from 2013 to 2015. He left the Badgers for a similar role at LSU before being hired as the Baylor Bears' head coach.

It was a tough weekend for two former Wisconsin Badgers defensive coordinators, while the current one is riding high on the clouds. Maybe Tressel will learn from this and decide to just keep doing what he does under Luke Fickell as long as the Badgers keep Fickell around. Not looking for the grass to be greener.

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