lowiq wrote:

also utah high school football is a good bit better than wisconsin.

asmartcollegefootballfan wrote:

What I am worried about......

-Personal "Fit"- It's been claimed that Gary turned down jobs at Colorado, Cal and Kentucky because they weren't the right "fit" and that at the end of the day he needed to stay in Logan, Utah. I'm not sure what changed his mind to move across the country away from the place he's spent nearly his entire personal, professional and academic career, but apparently the guy felt some type of "fit" when he was in Madison earlier this Fall. I'm assuming he is a Mormon having attended a school in where 95% of the student body were members of the LDS and having lived in Utah for his entire life and coaching at "Romney Field" for the last 4 years... and now, Welcome to Madison! The Liberal hub of the Midwest, the People's Republic, America's #1 College town. A city known for beer, booze, bars and wild parties. I'm not sure if it's going to be an issue or not, but I am struggling to see Madison as a fit for this particular guy

-Lack of Wisconsin/Midwest/Big Ten ties- The guy has absolutely zero experience coaching or recruiting in the Midwest or Wisconsin. We've lost nearly all of our assistant coaches (again) and we appear to be getting an entirely new staff. I'm worried that, although he is known to be one of the best recruiters in the country, he may be in over his head with how important and intense Big Ten recruiting can be.

-His understanding for the Badger way on offense- The guy ran a high octane spread offense with a dual-threat QB while at Utah State. Quite frankly, that will never fly at Wisconsin long-term. If Wisconsin has any value to it's "brand" as a football program, everyone in the country knows it is a pro-style, power run game. That's the way it's been since the beginning. Even before Barry. Big Wisconsin and Midwest linemen, powerful running backs and smart quarterbacks. That's the brand and that's what I consider "The Wisconsin Way." It's strange, because you don't want to immediately put a leash on the guy you just hired, but it's like Ford said: "People can have The Model T in any color... so long as it's black."

- Is this a destination job? - Like I said before, the guy has no apparent reason to be here that anyone can see other than what will assuredly be a pay increase. Does he really want to be at Wisconsin? Is this a destination? Is this just a stepping to something else in 4 years if he is successful. He is our 3rd coach since 1990. We have thrived on continuity and consistency.

- Questionable changes in recruiting strategies and coaching staff being put together - so far no staff member hired or rumored to be hired has ties to Ohio, New Jersey or Florida. Those three regions are the life blood of out of state recruiting for Wisconsin. The defensive staff so far has little to no experience game planning against teams like Michigan, Ohio State or Nebraska. Only the linebacker coach has BCS level coaching experience.....unless you want to count the season the new DL coach spent at Utah (former lower conference school).

BuckinDayton wrote:

asmartcollegefootballfan wrote:

What I am worried about......

-Personal "Fit"- It's been claimed that Gary turned down jobs at Colorado, Cal and Kentucky because they weren't the right "fit" and that at the end of the day he needed to stay in Logan, Utah. I'm not sure what changed his mind to move across the country away from the place he's spent nearly his entire personal, professional and academic career, but apparently the guy felt some type of "fit" when he was in Madison earlier this Fall. I'm assuming he is a Mormon having attended a school in where 95% of the student body were members of the LDS and having lived in Utah for his entire life and coaching at "Romney Field" for the last 4 years... and now, Welcome to Madison! The Liberal hub of the Midwest, the People's Republic, America's #1 College town. A city known for beer, booze, bars and wild parties. I'm not sure if it's going to be an issue or not, but I am struggling to see Madison as a fit for this particular guy

-Lack of Wisconsin/Midwest/Big Ten ties- The guy has absolutely zero experience coaching or recruiting in the Midwest or Wisconsin. We've lost nearly all of our assistant coaches (again) and we appear to be getting an entirely new staff. I'm worried that, although he is known to be one of the best recruiters in the country, he may be in over his head with how important and intense Big Ten recruiting can be.

-His understanding for the Badger way on offense- The guy ran a high octane spread offense with a dual-threat QB while at Utah State. Quite frankly, that will never fly at Wisconsin long-term. If Wisconsin has any value to it's "brand" as a football program, everyone in the country knows it is a pro-style, power run game. That's the way it's been since the beginning. Even before Barry. Big Wisconsin and Midwest linemen, powerful running backs and smart quarterbacks. That's the brand and that's what I consider "The Wisconsin Way." It's strange, because you don't want to immediately put a leash on the guy you just hired, but it's like Ford said: "People can have The Model T in any color... so long as it's black."

- Is this a destination job? - Like I said before, the guy has no apparent reason to be here that anyone can see other than what will assuredly be a pay increase. Does he really want to be at Wisconsin? Is this a destination? Is this just a stepping to something else in 4 years if he is successful. He is our 3rd coach since 1990. We have thrived on continuity and consistency.

- Questionable changes in recruiting strategies and coaching staff being put together - so far no staff member hired or rumored to be hired has ties to Ohio, New Jersey or Florida. Those three regions are the life blood of out of state recruiting for Wisconsin. The defensive staff so far has little to no experience game planning against teams like Michigan, Ohio State or Nebraska. Only the linebacker coach has BCS level coaching experience.....unless you want to count the season the new DL coach spent at Utah (former lower conference school).

Which coaches, if any, would view Wisconsin as a dream/destination job?

OriginalDCBuck wrote:

goldenbernsy wrote: Wisconsin hit its ceiling with Bielema as head coach?  All the close losses the last few years, which were in part caused by a coach who most Buckeye fans regarded as a doofus, would suggest otherwise. 

5 losses in 2012: OT v. OSU, OT v. MSU, OT v. PSU, 3 v. Neb, 3 v. OrSU
3 losses in 2011: 4 v. OSU (heave), 6. MSU (hail mary), 7 vs. Ducks
2 losses in 2010: 2 v. TCU, 10 v. MSU

Surrounded by a high majority of dominations.

Obviously a coach has proven already you can dominate most teams at Wisconsin, and be close with everybody else, it's just a matter of decision making by the staff and players pulling out a much higher percentage of close games then they have to realize more of their potential as a program.  Anderson could be better with the same level of recruiting, same prep, but being more intelligent during games and instilling that in their players.

Actually, heave isn't an accurate description of that game.  We completely controlled the game until Wilson went wild, bringing you back with a number of busted plays to pull you into a game that had no business being as close at it was.  Without one of the most clutch players in college football you would have gotten run out of the stadium.  More should be made of Wilson's heroics, you weren't really even in it until late in the 4th quarter.  A miraculous comeback coming up short is more appropriate.

BuckinDayton wrote: I think most people just felt BB was a colossal douche, more so than a bad coach.

goldenbernsy wrote:

OriginalDCBuck wrote:

goldenbernsy wrote: Wisconsin hit its ceiling with Bielema as head coach?  All the close losses the last few years, which were in part caused by a coach who most Buckeye fans regarded as a doofus, would suggest otherwise. 

5 losses in 2012: OT v. OSU, OT v. MSU, OT v. PSU, 3 v. Neb, 3 v. OrSU
3 losses in 2011: 4 v. OSU (heave), 6. MSU (hail mary), 7 vs. Ducks
2 losses in 2010: 2 v. TCU, 10 v. MSU

Surrounded by a high majority of dominations.

Obviously a coach has proven already you can dominate most teams at Wisconsin, and be close with everybody else, it's just a matter of decision making by the staff and players pulling out a much higher percentage of close games then they have to realize more of their potential as a program.  Anderson could be better with the same level of recruiting, same prep, but being more intelligent during games and instilling that in their players.

Actually, heave isn't an accurate description of that game.  We completely controlled the game until Wilson went wild, bringing you back with a number of busted plays to pull you into a game that had no business being as close at it was.  Without one of the most clutch players in college football you would have gotten run out of the stadium.  More should be made of Wilson's heroics, you weren't really even in it until late in the 4th quarter.  A miraculous comeback coming up short is more appropriate.

I was more than fair.  Some would have referred to it as a hail mary, but I phrased it as a heave because the receiver broke open.  That shouldn't have happened with like 25 freaking seconds to go.  You'd have been hard pressed to win without a big play.  That was a breakdown in coverage.  And earlier on in the game Wisconsin got a punt blocked for a TD essentially on another assignment breakdown.  The guy never blocked anyone.  He did the same thing the previous week against MSU otherwise that's probably a win too, even aside from that hail mary business.  Those were both games Wisconsin would have won with decent in game coaching.  It certainly had nothing to do with talent.  And if they had won those games they'd have been in the national championship game.  BB never was in a national championship game.  Obviously the program didn't reach its peak potential under him then.