Former (technically interim) Wisconsin Badgers head football coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez found his replacement for Bret Bielema who shockingly left Wisconsin for Arkansas earlier this month by hiring Gary Andersen.
The 48-year old former Utah State head coach is classified as a defensive
minded players coach, which gives Wisconsin their third consecutive defensive first head coach in the mold of Alvarez and Bielema. Andersen used a spread offense at Utah State. There is no word yet whether
Andersen will stick with the spread offense or adopt Wisconsin's ground and pound approach.
Recent history suggests that it makes sense that Wisconsin hired a defensive minded coach but it
was a bit of a shock for both Utah State and Wisconsin that it ended up
being Andersen. Alvarez got to see Andersen's work
up close and in-person earlier this year when Wisconsin beat Utah State 16-14 on September 15th in
Madison thanks to a missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Utah State kicker Josh Thompson
in the waning moments of the game. Earlier this season Andersen signed a contract
extension at Utah State worth roughly $750,000 annually through
2018. Andersen got a nice raise from Wisconsin by signing a five-year,
$10 million
contract worth $1.8 million in 2013 that contains $100,000 raises each
of the
next four years. Despite
Andersen having a chance to interview at California and Colorado earlier
this year, he
said that he wanted to stay at Utah State. Apparently the chance to
coach Wisconsin (along with a hefty raise) was more enticing
than Utah State, Colorado, or California.
Alvarez choose Andersen
instead of a number of other strong candidates: Chris Ash (current
defensive coordinator for the Wisconsin
Badgers and future defensive coordinator for the Arkansas Razorbacks),
Paul Chryst (current head coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers and former
Wisconsin Badgers assistant), Dave Clawson (current head coach for the
Bowling Green Falcons), Dave Doeren (current head coach for N.C. State and former Wisconsin Badger assistant), and
Mel Tucker (current defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars
and a former Wisconsin Badgers defensive back).
Andersen is a native of Utah that started his coaching career in 1988
in Louisiana before coaching out west (Arizona, Idaho, and Utah) at
various places from 1989 through 2012.
Andersen served as a
defensive assistant at Utah from 1997-2008 (1997-02 defensive
line/special teams coach, defensive line coach in 2004, and
defensive coordinator from 2005-08) with one unsuccessful season as head
coach of Southern Utah in 2003 mixed in where he posted a record of 4–7.
Andersen finished as a Broyles Award finalist in 2008, an annual award
given to the top assistant in college football, before becoming the
head coach of Utah State in 2009.
When Andersen took over Utah
State they were coming off a 3-9 season,
which was actually a successful season since Utah State had not won
three games since 2005. Andersen finished 26-24 record overall (1-1 in
bowl games) at Utah State: 4-8 in 2009, 4-8 in 2010, 7-6 in 2011 (lost to Ohio University in the 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl), and 11-2 in 2012 (beat Toledo in the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl).
Hiring Andersen is the first step for a Wisconsin Badgers football program
that will have put together an entirely new coaching staff twice in
less than 18 months. After last season Wisconsin replaced almost all
of their assistant coaches, which is what they will end up doing after
this season as well since most assistants agreed to coach the Rose Bowl
but accepted similar positions with other programs for next season.
It is way too early to see how all the assistant coach positions
will shake out but it looks like it will be a mix of current Wisconsin
assistant coaches, former Utah State assistants, and a few select
assistants from other programs. According to various reports, Andersen
will bring three coaches with him from Utah State: Dave Aranda
(defensive coordinator), Bill Busch (special teams coordinator/safeties
coach), and T.J. Woods (offensive line). Andersen hopes to bring former
Utah State assistant coach and current Utah defensive
line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a with him as well.
In terms of current
Wisconsin assistants, since most already accepted positions with other
programs, unless Alvarez and Andersen can lure some of those guys back
to Wisconsin the early indications are that only Thomas
Hammock (running backs coach), Bart Miller (offensive line coach), and Ben Strickland (assistant secondary coach) will stay at Wisconsin.
Fans might have wanted Alvarez and Wisconsin to make a flashier hire
than Andersen but that is just not the Wisconsin way. The recent
success of less flashy coaches like Bo Ryan and Bret Bielema in
basketball and football respectively shows that bringing in a guy like
Andersen is the right move.
Showing posts with label Paul Chryst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Chryst. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Bret Bielema leaves Wisconsin for Arkansas
Wisconsin
was a perennial doormat of the Big "Ten" in football before Barry
Alvarez took over as the head football coach in 1990. Alvarez lead the Badgers to a
118-74-4 record, 8-3 in bowl games (including 3 Rose Bowl
victories), and 3 Big "Ten" Championships
(1993, 1998, & 1999). Bret Bielema served as defensive coordinator under
Alvarez at Wisconsin for two seasons (2004-2005) before taking over as the head
football coach when Alvarez relinquished those duties to focus
solely on being the Wisconsin athletic director (a position he held since 2004
after Pat Richter retired as athletic director).
On Monday I posted a question to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wisconsin Badgers beat writer Jeff Potrykus's chat about the rumors of Bielema leaving Wisconsin for Tennessee. Potrykus dismissed the rumor. As it turns out, Bielema is leaving Wisconsin to coach in the SEC, just not for Tennessee. Instead, Bielema accepted an offer to become the 32nd head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, which is the team that Bielema beat 17-14 in his first season as head football coach of Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. The timing of Bielema leaving Wisconsin is surprising because he was set to lead Wisconsin to their 3rd consecutive Rose Bowl appearance in a little less than a month.
Bielema finished his seven year stint as head football coach at Wisconsin with a 68-24 record, 37-19 in the Big "Ten", 2-0 in Big "Ten" Championship Games, and 2-4 bowl games.
Let's look at Bielema's record, by season:
2006: 12-1 and 7-1 in Big "Ten"
2007: 9-4 and 5-3 in Big "Ten"
2008: 7-6 and 3-5 in Big "Ten"
2009: 10-3 and 5-3 in Big "Ten"
2010: 11-2 and 7-1 in Big "Ten"
2011: 11-3 and 6-2 in Big "Ten"
2012: 8-5 and 4-4 in Big "Ten"
Bielema had a lackluster bowl record, which always left a bad taste in Badgers fan's mouths throughout the 9 month off-season. Here is Bielema's bowl game breakdown:
2006: beat Arkansas 17-14 in the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2007
2007: lost to Tennessee 21-17 in the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2008
2008: lost to Florida State 42-13 in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 27, 2008
2009: beat Univ. of Miami (FL) 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 29, 2009
2010: lost to TCU 21-19 in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2011
2011: lost to Oregon 45-38 in the Rose Bowl on January 2, 2012
Bielema's biggest accomplishment at Wisconsin will undoubtedly be going 2-0 in the only two Big "Ten" Championship games ever played (so far) in conference history:
2011: beat Michigan State 42-39 in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game
2012: beat Nebraska 70-31 in the Big Ten Championship Game
Wisconsin won at least a share of the Big Ten Title in each of the last three seasons: 2010 (Co-Champions), 2011 ("Leaders" Division Co-Champions, represented "Leaders" Division in the Big Ten Championship Game & won), and 2012 ("Leaders" Division representative in Big "Ten" Championship Game despite finishing 3rd in the "Leaders" division because Ohio State & Penn State were ineligible for post-season play & won). The only hole in Bielema's resume is that he never won a Rose Bowl, going 0-2 while his predecessor and former boss Alvarez went 3-0.
There was some speculation after Bielema accepted the job at Arkansas that he still wanted to coach Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl but rumbling are that associate head coach/defensive line coach Charlie Partridge would get the nod in Bielema's place if Partridge doesn't follow Bielema to Arkansas. I find Bielema wanting to coach Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl unrealistic on two fronts. First, Arkansas wants Bielema to hit the recruiting trail immediately. Second, Wisconsin wants to name Bielema's successor as soon as possible for recruiting purposes and might be able to use the chance to coach the upcoming Rose Bowl as a way to entice a slightly bigger name to take the job.
There are a ton of other jobs that you could argue are just as good or maybe even slightly better than Wisconsin (i.e. Clemson, Michigan State, etc) but what collegiate head football coaching jobs are unquestionably better than Wisconsin? In my mind, here are the unquestionably better, and in most instances more risky, jobs:
- ACC: Florida State, University of Miami (FL), and Virginia Tech
- Big 12: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas
- Big "Ten": Michigan, Nebraska, and Ohio State
- Independent: Notre Dame
- Pac-12: Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and USC
- SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and LSU
There is no doubt (in my mind at least) that Arkansas is bigger college football program than Wisconsin. Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992 but has never won a conference championship and has only appeared in the conference championship game three times Despite not having any SEC Championships, Arkansas fans still expect to win the SEC.
After finishing the 2011 season the 5th ranked team in the country, the Arkansas football program has fallen on hard times over the last eight months. Bobby Petrino was fired as the head football coach of Arkansas after it was revealed that he was having an affair with a former Arkansas student-athlete that he hired to work him. Former Michigan State head coach John L. Smith took a 10-month contract to coach Arkansas but could only muster a 4-8 record (2-6 in the SEC) despite having a ton of raw talent on the roster. That all leaves Bielema with a bit of a mess to clean-up at Arkansas.
Let's not forget Bielema was born in Illinois, played football at Iowa, and coached football in the Big "Ten" for all but two years of his coaching career until now. Bielema even took some shots at Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer insinuating that the Big "Ten" is classier than the SEC in terms of recruiting practices. This all begs the question, why would Bielema take the Arkansas job instead of staying at Wisconsin?
As always, follow the money. Even though Bielema was already one the 20 highest paid college football coaches earning $2.6 million in 2012 he didn't think that was enough I guess. There are conflicting reports on Bielema's future annual compensation from Arkansas, some claim that Bielema signed a six-year contract worth $3.2 million a year while others report that Bielema is set to earn more than $4 million a year. I planned on writing a post as the Badgers got closer to the Rose Bowl on whether Bielema was sufficiently compensated since he was the 5th highest paid coach in the Big "Ten" in 2012 but I guess Arkansas showed us that Bielema was underpaid at Wisconsin.
The Big "Ten" is a quality football conference but it is not nearly as deep or demanding as the SEC. There are currently 14 teams in the SEC broken into the Eastern Division (University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, & Vanderbilt University) and Western Division (University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, Auburn University, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, & Texas A&M University).
Juxtapose that with the 14 teams that will make up the Big "Ten" in 2014 with this potential breakdown for the Legends Division (Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, & Wisconsin) and Leaders Division (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, & Northwestern). With Bielema headed to the SEC that leaves Indiana's Kevin Wilson as the longest tenured coach in the Legends Division (hired in 2010) and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz as the longest tenured coach (hired in 1999) in the Big "Ten".
Penn State is only a quarter of the way though four years of crippling sanctions so Wisconsin is poised to push Ohio State for the Legends Division Title for the foreseeable future. That is simply not the case at Arkansas in the Western Division of the SEC. Over that same time frame Alabama (thanks to Nick Saban), LSU (thanks to Les Miles), and Texas A&M (thanks to Johnny Football) will most likely finish ahead of Arkansas. The love for college football down south is akin to professional soccer abroad so if Bielema thinks finishing 4th in the Western Division of the SEC is acceptable, he is sorely mistaken.
The pressing issue for Wisconsin now is getting a quality head coach hired as soon as possible. The first name to surface was former assistant coach Paul Chryst who coached the tight ends at Wisconsin in 2002 before leaving the program to be the offensive coordinator at Oregon State for the next two seasons (2003-2004) before returning to Wisconsin as the offensive coordinator from 2005-2011 before becoming the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh this past season. Chryst only went 6-6 at Pittsburgh but that shouldn't matter much since Chryst is credited with landing a number of the offensive superstars that currently play for the Badgers. Chryst released a statement that said he is committed to Pittsburgh but as Bielema showed, money talks.
Beside Chryst, former Wisconsin assistant coach Dave Doeren is another name that I am sure will surface. Doeren held various defensive assistant coaching titles at Wisconsin from 2006-2010 before leaving the program to become the head football coach of Northern Illinois in 2011. Doeren lead Northern Illinois to a 23-4 record including an upcoming BCS Bowl appearance (Orange Bowl) before leaving to become the head football coach at North Carolina State for next season.
For either Chryst or Doeren to become the next head football coach of Wisconsin, they would need very lucrative long-term guarantees. I am not saying that Wisconsin has to sign either Chryst or Doeren but I am saying that it is time for Wisconsin to actually start paying the going rate for head coaches and more importantly their assistant coaches. Bielema lost six assistant coaches last off-season and all were hired to similar assistant coaching positions besides Chryst. Thus Wisconsin has to start paying their assistants because it might have been a big reason why Bielema left Wisconsin for Arkansas.
Assuming Bielema continued to keep Wisconsin bowl eligible on an annual basis his job was safe. Now Bielema has to chase national titles with BCS bowl appearances on a near annual basis as a fallback position to keep his job at Arkansas. Only time will tell if Bielema made the right decision. As long as Bielema accepted the Arkansas job while fully appreciating the risks, I can't blame him for taking the new gig. If Bielema is looking for a new employer in the next five years, he should have stayed at Wisconsin instead of going all-in taking the Arkansas job
On Monday I posted a question to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Wisconsin Badgers beat writer Jeff Potrykus's chat about the rumors of Bielema leaving Wisconsin for Tennessee. Potrykus dismissed the rumor. As it turns out, Bielema is leaving Wisconsin to coach in the SEC, just not for Tennessee. Instead, Bielema accepted an offer to become the 32nd head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, which is the team that Bielema beat 17-14 in his first season as head football coach of Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. The timing of Bielema leaving Wisconsin is surprising because he was set to lead Wisconsin to their 3rd consecutive Rose Bowl appearance in a little less than a month.
Bielema finished his seven year stint as head football coach at Wisconsin with a 68-24 record, 37-19 in the Big "Ten", 2-0 in Big "Ten" Championship Games, and 2-4 bowl games.
Let's look at Bielema's record, by season:
2006: 12-1 and 7-1 in Big "Ten"
2007: 9-4 and 5-3 in Big "Ten"
2008: 7-6 and 3-5 in Big "Ten"
2009: 10-3 and 5-3 in Big "Ten"
2010: 11-2 and 7-1 in Big "Ten"
2011: 11-3 and 6-2 in Big "Ten"
2012: 8-5 and 4-4 in Big "Ten"
Bielema had a lackluster bowl record, which always left a bad taste in Badgers fan's mouths throughout the 9 month off-season. Here is Bielema's bowl game breakdown:
2006: beat Arkansas 17-14 in the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2007
2007: lost to Tennessee 21-17 in the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2008
2008: lost to Florida State 42-13 in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 27, 2008
2009: beat Univ. of Miami (FL) 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 29, 2009
2010: lost to TCU 21-19 in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2011
2011: lost to Oregon 45-38 in the Rose Bowl on January 2, 2012
Bielema's biggest accomplishment at Wisconsin will undoubtedly be going 2-0 in the only two Big "Ten" Championship games ever played (so far) in conference history:
2011: beat Michigan State 42-39 in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game
2012: beat Nebraska 70-31 in the Big Ten Championship Game
Wisconsin won at least a share of the Big Ten Title in each of the last three seasons: 2010 (Co-Champions), 2011 ("Leaders" Division Co-Champions, represented "Leaders" Division in the Big Ten Championship Game & won), and 2012 ("Leaders" Division representative in Big "Ten" Championship Game despite finishing 3rd in the "Leaders" division because Ohio State & Penn State were ineligible for post-season play & won). The only hole in Bielema's resume is that he never won a Rose Bowl, going 0-2 while his predecessor and former boss Alvarez went 3-0.
There was some speculation after Bielema accepted the job at Arkansas that he still wanted to coach Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl but rumbling are that associate head coach/defensive line coach Charlie Partridge would get the nod in Bielema's place if Partridge doesn't follow Bielema to Arkansas. I find Bielema wanting to coach Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl unrealistic on two fronts. First, Arkansas wants Bielema to hit the recruiting trail immediately. Second, Wisconsin wants to name Bielema's successor as soon as possible for recruiting purposes and might be able to use the chance to coach the upcoming Rose Bowl as a way to entice a slightly bigger name to take the job.
There are a ton of other jobs that you could argue are just as good or maybe even slightly better than Wisconsin (i.e. Clemson, Michigan State, etc) but what collegiate head football coaching jobs are unquestionably better than Wisconsin? In my mind, here are the unquestionably better, and in most instances more risky, jobs:
- ACC: Florida State, University of Miami (FL), and Virginia Tech
- Big 12: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas
- Big "Ten": Michigan, Nebraska, and Ohio State
- Independent: Notre Dame
- Pac-12: Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and USC
- SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and LSU
There is no doubt (in my mind at least) that Arkansas is bigger college football program than Wisconsin. Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992 but has never won a conference championship and has only appeared in the conference championship game three times Despite not having any SEC Championships, Arkansas fans still expect to win the SEC.
After finishing the 2011 season the 5th ranked team in the country, the Arkansas football program has fallen on hard times over the last eight months. Bobby Petrino was fired as the head football coach of Arkansas after it was revealed that he was having an affair with a former Arkansas student-athlete that he hired to work him. Former Michigan State head coach John L. Smith took a 10-month contract to coach Arkansas but could only muster a 4-8 record (2-6 in the SEC) despite having a ton of raw talent on the roster. That all leaves Bielema with a bit of a mess to clean-up at Arkansas.
Let's not forget Bielema was born in Illinois, played football at Iowa, and coached football in the Big "Ten" for all but two years of his coaching career until now. Bielema even took some shots at Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer insinuating that the Big "Ten" is classier than the SEC in terms of recruiting practices. This all begs the question, why would Bielema take the Arkansas job instead of staying at Wisconsin?
As always, follow the money. Even though Bielema was already one the 20 highest paid college football coaches earning $2.6 million in 2012 he didn't think that was enough I guess. There are conflicting reports on Bielema's future annual compensation from Arkansas, some claim that Bielema signed a six-year contract worth $3.2 million a year while others report that Bielema is set to earn more than $4 million a year. I planned on writing a post as the Badgers got closer to the Rose Bowl on whether Bielema was sufficiently compensated since he was the 5th highest paid coach in the Big "Ten" in 2012 but I guess Arkansas showed us that Bielema was underpaid at Wisconsin.
The Big "Ten" is a quality football conference but it is not nearly as deep or demanding as the SEC. There are currently 14 teams in the SEC broken into the Eastern Division (University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, & Vanderbilt University) and Western Division (University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, Auburn University, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, & Texas A&M University).
Juxtapose that with the 14 teams that will make up the Big "Ten" in 2014 with this potential breakdown for the Legends Division (Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, & Wisconsin) and Leaders Division (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, & Northwestern). With Bielema headed to the SEC that leaves Indiana's Kevin Wilson as the longest tenured coach in the Legends Division (hired in 2010) and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz as the longest tenured coach (hired in 1999) in the Big "Ten".
Penn State is only a quarter of the way though four years of crippling sanctions so Wisconsin is poised to push Ohio State for the Legends Division Title for the foreseeable future. That is simply not the case at Arkansas in the Western Division of the SEC. Over that same time frame Alabama (thanks to Nick Saban), LSU (thanks to Les Miles), and Texas A&M (thanks to Johnny Football) will most likely finish ahead of Arkansas. The love for college football down south is akin to professional soccer abroad so if Bielema thinks finishing 4th in the Western Division of the SEC is acceptable, he is sorely mistaken.
The pressing issue for Wisconsin now is getting a quality head coach hired as soon as possible. The first name to surface was former assistant coach Paul Chryst who coached the tight ends at Wisconsin in 2002 before leaving the program to be the offensive coordinator at Oregon State for the next two seasons (2003-2004) before returning to Wisconsin as the offensive coordinator from 2005-2011 before becoming the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh this past season. Chryst only went 6-6 at Pittsburgh but that shouldn't matter much since Chryst is credited with landing a number of the offensive superstars that currently play for the Badgers. Chryst released a statement that said he is committed to Pittsburgh but as Bielema showed, money talks.
Beside Chryst, former Wisconsin assistant coach Dave Doeren is another name that I am sure will surface. Doeren held various defensive assistant coaching titles at Wisconsin from 2006-2010 before leaving the program to become the head football coach of Northern Illinois in 2011. Doeren lead Northern Illinois to a 23-4 record including an upcoming BCS Bowl appearance (Orange Bowl) before leaving to become the head football coach at North Carolina State for next season.
For either Chryst or Doeren to become the next head football coach of Wisconsin, they would need very lucrative long-term guarantees. I am not saying that Wisconsin has to sign either Chryst or Doeren but I am saying that it is time for Wisconsin to actually start paying the going rate for head coaches and more importantly their assistant coaches. Bielema lost six assistant coaches last off-season and all were hired to similar assistant coaching positions besides Chryst. Thus Wisconsin has to start paying their assistants because it might have been a big reason why Bielema left Wisconsin for Arkansas.
Assuming Bielema continued to keep Wisconsin bowl eligible on an annual basis his job was safe. Now Bielema has to chase national titles with BCS bowl appearances on a near annual basis as a fallback position to keep his job at Arkansas. Only time will tell if Bielema made the right decision. As long as Bielema accepted the Arkansas job while fully appreciating the risks, I can't blame him for taking the new gig. If Bielema is looking for a new employer in the next five years, he should have stayed at Wisconsin instead of going all-in taking the Arkansas job
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