Wisconsin aims to follow Virginia rebuild model, but history shows it often backfires

The coaching cycle is going to be crazy this offseason, as there are already 10 FBS openings, and it's not even Nov. 1. Wisconsin does not appear to be joining this cycle. Chris McIntosh has said he would rather invest more money into the program and trust the current coaching staff. In other words, he wants to follow the Virginia model. There is some optimism to be said about this; read that article here.

However, history proves it's not always foolproof, and it doesn't always work. While it's a short history with NIL and paying players, there are other examples of doing this exact thing, and it only leads to firing the coach two years later than you initially should have.

Billy Napier is an example that this strategy may just push the ball down the road

Billy Napier, Brian Kelly, and Mike Norvell are all great examples of coaches who went aggressive with NIL, built big rosters, and paid big money for players, but were either fired (Napier and Kelly) or about to be fired (Norvell).

There are other examples of this problem. It really depends on how good the coach actually is at executing a premier lineup. One of the worries with Luke Fickell is that he's already doing less with more, so what would make him do more with even more?

The fear with this strategy is that Fickell hasn't built a culture, has seemingly lost the locker room, and that his team is already underperforming. What would make a bigger player investment actually work?

This was the downfall of the coaches listed above. If you can't maximize the roster, a super team doesn't get you any further.

One fact remains, Wisconsin hasn't really tried it, and Chris McIntosh believes in this sunk-cost-fallacy, so while it may push the ball down the road, he's committed to trying it until it proves not to work.