UW Stepping Stone Job

[Tums Festival]

Not surprised at all. IMO, the job is Paul Chryst's if he wants it.

Funny, but the thread here reads like the Badger boards when discussing MU.

How so? Has anyone made disparaging remarks about Gary Andersen's parents?

[GooooMarquette]

It's Oregon State!  It's Oregon State!

[mu-rara]

A lot of back and forth about lowering admission standards on the Badger board.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

A lot of back and forth about lowering admission standards on the Badger board.

the problem is BA

[Groin_pull]

A lot of back and forth about lowering admission standards on the Badger board.

Yeah, that's the problem.

[brandx]

the problem is BA

That makes sense 

Compare the 25 years before BA was at UW with the 25 years since.

[Hards Alumni]

A lot of back and forth about lowering admission standards on the Badger board.

That doesn't surprise me.  A lot of uninformed folks there.

That makes sense 

Compare the 25 years before BA was at UW with the 25 years since.

Well, Barry does have an ego the size of Madison.

[ATWizJr]

the problem is BA

How's that?

[mu03eng]

A lot of back and forth about lowering admission standards on the Badger board.

It's excuse making on their part.  UW admission standards are on par with every other B1G school and they don't seem to have trouble enrolling students.  Besides, what player did Anderson not get on campus because of academics???

Given the talent on the roster for next year, Wisconsin may be in for a rough couple of years depending on who the hire is.

And I really hope they hire Paul Chryst, all anyone complained about in those years was the offensive play calling.

[ATWizJr]

It's excuse making on their part.  UW admission standards are on par with every other B1G school and they don't seem to have trouble enrolling students.  Besides, what player did Anderson not get on campus because of academics???

Given the talent on the roster for next year, Wisconsin may be in for a rough couple of years depending on who the hire is.

And I really hope they hire Paul Chryst, all anyone complained about in those years was the offensive play calling.

the Sun Prairie kid. Craig Evans, now a frosh at Michigan State.

[Groin_pull]

It's excuse making on their part.  UW admission standards are on par with every other B1G school and they don't seem to have trouble enrolling students.  Besides, what player did Anderson not get on campus because of academics???

Given the talent on the roster for next year, Wisconsin may be in for a rough couple of years depending on who the hire is.

And I really hope they hire Paul Chryst, all anyone complained about in those years was the offensive play calling.

Well, Chryst has certainly been tearing it up at Pitt.

[GoldenWarrior11]

There was someone on Twitter than had a picture of Gary Andersen's office at Wisconsin with a giant Barry Alvarez statue in it.  The caption was something like "Is there anything more strange to have in your office?"  Must have been a pretty awkward situation to be in.

[Spotcheck Billy]

I read on SI.com last night that its rumored Anderson was unhappy with the budget for his assistants and with the facilities I have no idea how WI's facilities are, I would assume with the BIG network $$$ they have invested in them but...

[MUDPT]

the Sun Prairie kid. Craig Evans, now a frosh at Michigan State.

Yep, nothing like dragging a high school senior's academic record through the State Journal, again.

[MUfan12]

Didn't that linebacker from Mukwonago fail his Women's Studies class?

[Ari Gold]

I read on SI.com last night that its rumored Anderson was unhappy with the budget for his assistants and with the facilities I have no idea how WI's facilities are, I would assume with the BIG network $$$ they have invested in them but...

I was under the impression the facilities were very good and newly renovated. New weight room, nutrition room, players lounge etc.

[ATWizJr]

Yep, nothing like dragging a high school senior's academic record through the State Journal, again.

Not the intent at all.  03 asked, I answered.  Nothing more than that.

[MUDPT]

Not the intent at all.  03 asked, I answered.  Nothing more than that.

Whoops, not my intent either, sorry.  My criticism lies with the State Journal, who thinks it's okay to talk about high school seniors' academic records.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Here's a question: If UW's athletic dept is so premier, how is it that lowly Marquette paid Buzz ~$1.3m MORE than their head football coach? The HC of football is the steward of the most visible and supposedly profitable program for the university.

Where is that money going if not to get the best coaching staff you can?

...or maybe the pockets aren't as deep as any UW alum would have you believe.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

How's that?

Not arguing with Alvarez as a coach, but I believe he's not a guy who attracts top talent coaches to work under him.

1) Wisconsin pays their assistants 40th in the nation (below Rutgers, even). It is the AD's responsibility to secure resources for his department to attract and support top talent. Barry's comment on that:

"As athletic director, I know what people are making, and every time someone has a hint that they may take another job, it's not prudent to jump and throw a pile of money at them," Alvarez said.[/list]

This, of course, misses the point - this was a big reason BB left, and definitely didn't help GA from leaving. Looking to the next guy... who is looking at that quote drooling over the UW job? They'll not be able to get the support they need on the sideline that MSU, Iowa, Michigan, OSU, Nebraska, etc all get.... even though they are facing them to win the conference each year.

2) I don't believe admissions policies were the issue. Regardless of their stringency (or lack thereof), nothing changed from Gary Anderson's interview with Wisconsin and today. For this to be an issue there would have been lack of clarity from the AD on what he could swing for the football program.

3) Alvarez is a micromanager, and no head coach would spend more time at UW than he needed to. Some excerpts from a recent article:

Bielema always bristled at the notion that he was merely maintaining Alvarez's program. I heard him more than once in the last of his seven years at Wisconsin go to great lengths to point out the length of his tenure and the amount of success he'd had. You got the feeling the athletic director still liked to lay claim to the Badgers' football glory – and you got that feeling from the things Alvarez said when Bielema left.

"Bret used my gameplan to win," he said. "The coach I hire will have to understand who we are and how we go about our business."

Thus Alvarez hired another coach who would revere the power running game in Andersen. Coming from Utah State, there was no way Andersen was going to be a bigger man on campus than Alvarez.

Andersen went 19-7 in two seasons – a very good record, but one marred by some ugly losses. In 2013, the Badgers mangled a last-minute drive and lost to Arizona State, 32-30; flopped in a loss to Penn State as a 24-point favorite; and lost the Capital One Bowl to South Carolina as a slight favorite. This year, Wisconsin inexplicably lost to Northwestern, then was mauled 59-0 as a four-point favorite in the Big Ten championship game by Ohio State.

Oh, and there also was that bizarre, come-from-ahead loss in the season opener against LSU. In that game, Wisconsin stopped running Heisman Trophy finalist Melvin Gordon in the second half and started a quarterback who simply couldn't play at that level. Andersen was grilled in the aftermath, and his non-answers about why Gordon didn't carry the ball only left people more confused and unhappy.

The following Monday, Andersen said Gordon was bothered by a hip flexor injury during the game – something he did not divulge that night. And he didn't sound very happy divulging it two days later, either.

"I don't quite frankly think it's anybody's business to pass that on to somebody after the game," Andersen said. "But apparently it is because that's what I was told to do."

There's only one person who could tell the head coach how to handle a player injury – Alvarez.
[/list]

So taking just a few of these things together, I don't think that would describe to me a "destination job" or one that I'd want to hang around at all... Any scoopers here feel like they'd love to work for a boss like that?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/on-wisconsin--gary-andersen-bolting-shows-uw-s-problem-may-be-institutional-025124097-ncaaf.html

[NavinRJohnson]

That article kind of sums up this casual observers sense of the thing. Barry Alvarez seems to think its still 1920 where football is concerned. Dictating that style of play, will obviously make it difficult to attract and retain coaches if their ability to recruit top talent aside from RBs and OLinemen is hampered as Wisconsin's recent QBs and WRs would seem to indicate it is.

[Tugg Speedman]

That article kind of sums up this casual observers sense of the thing. Barry Alvarez seems to think its still 1920 where football is concerned. Dictating that style of play, will obviously make it difficult to attract and retain coaches if their ability to recruit top talent aside from RBs and OLinemen is hampered as Wisconsin's recent QBs and WRs would seem to indicate it is.

The only person that can stop Russell Wilson is Barry Alvarez?

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

The only person that can stop Russell Wilson is Barry Alvarez?

Wilson didn't develop at UW. He was a free agent looking for the most complimentary team for him to plug into and shine.

Hardly the prototypical UW QB.

[Hards Alumni]

Not surprisingly, Paul Chryst will be the next UW coach.

[JWags85]

Wilson didn't develop at UW. He was a free agent looking for the most complimentary team for him to plug into and shine.

Hardly the prototypical UW QB.

Yet he's constantly portrayed as a UW success story.  He was there for less time than kids who flunk out of school.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to Chryst.  He's hardly had the success at Pitt to justify this hire if he wasn't the former OC.