Chryst, coordinators up for pay raises
MADISON – After helping Wisconsin record the most successful season in the history of the football program, head coach Paul Chryst and his top two assistants are in line for pay raises.
The UW Board of Regents, which meets Thursday and Friday in Madison, is scheduled to consider amended compensation agreements for Chryst, offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Chryst is scheduled to make $3.3 million in 2018. His contract runs through Jan. 31, 2023.
Rudolph, the associate head coach and offensive line coach, was paid $650,000 last season. Leonhard, in his first season as defensive coordinator after overseeing the secondary in 2016, was paid $600,000.
The Board of Regents also is scheduled to consider an additional compensation agreement for athletic director Barry Alvarez and amended agreement for women’s basketball coach Jonathan Tsipis.
Alvarez’s contract runs through Jan. 31, 2021. His annual compensation package is $1.125 million.
Tsipis is in his second season at UW. He is scheduled to be paid $633,333.
The program was in disarray when Tsipis took over. UW finished 3-13 in the Big Ten and 9-22 overall in his first season and the Badgers are 2-10 in the league and 9-16 overall this season.
Under Chryst, UW capped the season with an impressive 34-24 victory over Miami in the Orange Bowl to finish 13-1, the first team in program history to record 13 victories.
The Badgers finished No. 3 nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of 13.9 points per game. That was an improvement from 2016, when UW allowed 15.6 points per game under coordinator Justin Wilcox.
Wisconsin finished 28th nationally in scoring offense at 33.8 points per game, an improvement of 5.4.
UW returns all five starters on the offensive line and 10 of the 11 offensive starters from the Orange Bowl.
Leonhard faces a more difficult task in rebuilding the defense. UW must replace defensive ends Conor Sheehy, Alec James and Chikwe Obasih; outside linebackers Garret Dooley and Leon Jacobs; cornerbacks Derrick Tindal and Nick Nelson; and safeties Natrell Jamerson and Joe Ferguson.