- Messages
- 5,404
- Reaction score
- 311
Gary Andersen — the name brings up some pretty intense feelings amongst Badger fans.
It is also perhaps the biggest blemish on a stellar coaching and athletic director reputation that Barry Alvarez has built up at the University of Wisconsin (the decline of the hockey program aside).
Winning three Big Ten championships in less than a decade and capping those seasons off with Rose Bowl victories has a tendency to do that for a guy. However, Alvarez staked part of his reputation on going outside of the Badgers family he built and hiring Andersen following the loss of his protege, Bret Bielema, to the University of Arkansas in 2012.
Through two seasons, Andersen tried to mold the Badgers in his image, rather than build on the foundation of what got the Badgers to the top of the B1G mountain. It wasn’t easy to see at the time, but with some distance from Andersen’s two-year stint as head coach, it was clear he was never the long-term answer to what the Badgers needed.
Just take the word from the man who hired him, as Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal pointed out earlier this week:
“Gary didn’t buy into our formula,” said Alvarez.” Gary had his own ideas. I don’t think there was an emphasis on in-state kids or walk-ons. I think it would have hurt us in the long run.”
It is hard to see a bigger indictment of one’s own judgement than what Alvarez admitted about that hire. But, Alvarez is not wrong and one needs to only look at what has happened with a truly “Wisconsin” guy like Paul Chryst.
Wisconsin’s formula for success was easy to see with Alvarez, Bielema and now Chryst, as Alvarez says himself:
“I did feel confident that Bret (Bielema) understood our plan and our formula for success here, concentrating on first, your in-state kids, having a good, strong walk-on program, which a lot of people don’t emphasize. And he understood our state and what we had done to be successful. I felt confident he could continue it. Same with Paul.”
That formula was completely ignored with Andersen, especially the success with in-state kids. Instead, he wanted to reach deeper in to the state of Florida and the West Coast for kids who fit his ideas.
Of course, there is more than one way to win a lot of football games, but Alvarez and his successor clearly marked the path for long-term success at Wisconsin. It wasn’t exactly a broken model, otherwise Bielema wouldn’t be in a head coaching position in the SEC as we speak.
Instead, Wisconsin’s hallmarks were starting to fade. Look no further than the struggle to build depth back up on the offensive line and to find running backs that can be successful in college football. Corey Clement, Melvin Gordon and James White were all inherited talent.
What Andersen left behind were names like Caleb Kinlaw and Taiwan Deal. The former isn’t even on the Badgers roster anymore and the latter has had flashes of being successful, but hasn’t stayed healthy in his three years on UW’s campus thus far.
There were countless misses by Andersen on the recruiting trail as well, including names like Krenwick Sanders Jeremy Patterson and Kinlaw. All three were markers for Andersen spreading his wings on the recruiting trail in to the Southeast unlike ever before. All three have failed to make any impact on the program, with two of the three already out of a Badgers uniform as transfers.
His deep emphasis on Georgia and Florida took the focus off of the state of Wisconsin, and if it weren’t for a quick hire of Chryst, may have hurt the bread and butter of UW’s long-term health to an unrepairable level.
After all, it was Andersen who let a game-changing talent like R.J. Shelton go to Michigan State without much of a fight. It was also Andersen who decided a player like Gatorade Wisconsin State Player of the Year Alec Ingold wasn’t worthy of even a scholarship offer.
Add in his emphasis on academically risky kids and a complete misunderstanding of the academic side of getting players to Wisconsin, and clearly the formula that Andersen wanted to use wasn’t going to work.
One will have to wonder if Andersen saw the writing on the wall and got out before he was forced out, or if Alvarez would have seen the light at all. Either way, the fact that he can reflect back and see the mistake made reflects well on his ability to self-analyze about his pet program — the football team.
Wisconsin’s football program and its tried-and-true formula for winning seems to be intact once again under Chryst’s leadership. That is really all that matters now.
The post Barry Alvarez admits to mistake in Badgers hiring of Gary Andersen appeared first on Madtown Badgers.
Continue reading...
