UW Madison Whiffs of Greatness: Friedman & Knight

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

For no good reason I found myself reading a bit about Milton Friedman, and came across the following on his wikipedia page:

In 1940, Friedman accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but left because of differences with faculty regarding United States involvement in World War II.

Friedman later joined the University of Chicago, and established them as a bastion of Economics. He and his mentees at UofC have earned (to-date) 8 nobel prizes in Economics, which alone are more than any other institution globally.

This reminded me a of the Bobby Knight situation, where he was hired, in principle, after his last season at Army.

Of course, Knight instead went to IU where he won 662 games, 24 tourney appearances, and three titles.

This might not be interesting to anyone else, but I find it amusing when an organization has two absolutely legendary talents fall into their laps, then somehow (the institution's culture) drives them off.

Can you imagine the insufferability of Badger fans if UW actually was elite (Friedman & Knight tradition)?

Are there other examples of this?

[GGGG]

Bo Schembechler was the runner up for the Wisconsin football job in 1967.  They decided to hire John Coatta from within, even though Milt Bruhn's final years as UW coach saw them slipping.  Coatta promptly went 3-26-1 in his three seasons.  In 1969, Bo took over at Michigan.

Another one in the opposite direction, the Packers almost hired Iowa's football coach Forest Evashevski.  They decided to hire Vince Lombardi instead.

[Pakuni]

Al Pacino was nearly cast as Han Solo.
And James Cameron explored casting OJ Simpson as the Terminator instead of Ahnold.

[GooooMarquette]

The Packers almost drafted Tony Mandarich instead of Barry Sanders!

Oh, wait....

[warriorchick]

The Packers almost drafted Tony Mandarich instead of Barry Sanders!

Oh, wait....

If they had picked Sanders, they probably would have never wound up with Favre. Or Rodgers.

[rocket surgeon]

                    portland took sam bowie #2 ahead of MJ(#3) and after hakeem at #1

many better players taken in that draft turned out to be far better than bowie

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Bo Schembechler was the runner up for the Wisconsin football job in 1967.  They decided to hire John Coatta from within, even though Milt Bruhn's final years as UW coach saw them slipping.  Coatta promptly went 3-26-1 in his three seasons.  In 1969, Bo took over at Michigan.

Another one in the opposite direction, the Packers almost hired Iowa's football coach Forest Evashevski.  They decided to hire Vince Lombardi instead.

Never heard that about Schembechler.

[Dr. Blackheart]

DePaul inked Imari Sawyer over Dwyane Wade, which they have never recovered from this century.

[GGGG]

If they had picked Sanders, they probably would have never wound up with Favre. Or Rodgers.

Yep.  Blessing in disguise.

Even more intriguing.  Had they lost the last game of the season that year at Phoenix, the Packers would have had the #1 pick in the draft and would have taken Troy Aikman.   How different would the Packers have been with Aikman?  Does Harlan blow up the organization?  Does Ron Wolf ever come to Green Bay?  Would Aikman have been as successful?

[warriorchick]

Yep.  Blessing in disguise.

Yep. Sometimes bad decisions change the trajectory of events that end up being better in the long run.

Was my decision to come to Marquette primarily because of my high school boyfriend a stupid one?  Of course it was.  But then, I would have never met Glow, had the two amazing kids I have now, and missed out on this wonderful life of mine.   

[mu03eng]

Yep. Sometimes bad decisions change the trajectory of events that end up being better in the long run.

Was my decision to come to Marquette primarily because of my high school boyfriend a stupid one?  Of course it was.  But then, I would have never met Glow, had the two amazing kids I have now, and missed out on this wonderful life of mine.   

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Yep. Sometimes bad decisions change the trajectory of events that end up being better in the long run.

Was my decision to come to Marquette primarily because of my high school boyfriend a stupid one?  Of course it was.  But then, I would have never met Glow, had the two amazing kids I have now, and missed out on this wonderful life of mine.   

Plus, you get to hang out with all of us a$$holes.....

[warriorchick]

Plus, you get to hang out with all of us a$$holes.....

Yep, there's that......

[Skitch]

Al Pacino was nearly cast as Han Solo.
And James Cameron explored casting OJ Simpson as the Terminator instead of Ahnold.

The story, whether true or not, is that they didn't think Simpson could be believable as a killing machine.

[GooooMarquette]

The story, whether true or not, is that they didn't think Simpson could be believable as a killing machine.

So maybe the whole double-murder thing was just OJ's way of proving Cameron wrong.

[Skitch]

So maybe the whole double-murder thing was just OJ's way of proving Cameron wrong.

Auditioning for the sequel