The first question Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst fielded in his Monday press conference should come as no surprise. It was about former Badgers quarterback Jack Coan, who Chryst coached for four seasons but is now the starter at Notre Dame.
No. 18 Wisconsin (1-1), of course, meets up with No. 12 Notre Dame (3-0) at noon ET at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday. In just his fourth start wearing a new uniform, Coan gets to go up against his former coaches and teammates.
“I think certainly there’s a storyline,” Chryst said. “I think it’s important that it’s Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame. Obviously we have respect for Jack, and appreciate who he is as a person and player here, a teammate, but it’s Wisconsin vs Notre Dame.”
The Coan factor is obviously an important component of the game. Chryst was asked if Coan leaving left a bad taste in his mouth given the connection the two had made over the course of four years together.
“You want to respect decisions and go with it, and then you do move on, I think you have to move on,” Chryst said. “I think that’s kind of what happened here.”
Chryst was only asked specifically about one other Notre Dame player: junior safety Kyle Hamilton, who earned national Bednarik Player of the Week honors for tying a career high with 10 tackles, recording two pass breakups and snagging what was essentially a game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter against Purdue.
Chryst didn’t want to spend too much time on him, though.
“He is talented, right?” Chryst said. “My history is that you focus too much on one guy, and you know, you want to rob Peter to pay Paul. You play a good team, they’re going to have really good players, and I think that’s what we’re facing this week. A number of really good players and a well coached team at that. The good players, you know where they’re at but you have to be careful not to overcompensate and then you can hurt yourself in other ways.”
Naturally, the press conference circled back to the way it started: to a question about Coan. A reporter asked Chryst how Wisconsin sophomore quarterback Graham Mertz, who replaced Coan as the starter last season, has handled this game being billed as “Coan versus Mertz.”
“I think we all understand that’s the storyline that’s out there,” Chryst said. “I think it’s important for Graham and our whole team to know. But that’s what’s awesome about football; it’s a team sport. It’s going to take our team going up against a very good Notre Dame team, and that’s where the game is going to be played.”