Where does this “I think the glue guys were still leaving” mythos come from? If there’s one thing DeBoer proved at UW, it was his ability to convince key people—both players and coaches—to stay.
DeBoer’s 2024 ceiling at UW would have ultimately been limited by Will Rogers. We probably would have seen Austin Mack down the stretch, and nobody knows how that would have turned out.
But there is no way DeBoer loses to Cuog or Rutgers in 2024. He’d have destroyed those teams. I suspect he’d probably have split the Iowa and Indiana games too.
Would DeBoer be gone by now either way? Maybe. For all we know, he may have taken the Michigan job if not offered the Bammer job. If Cam Davis doesn’t rupture his ACL in August 2023, UW may have been National Champs.