Every athletic program goes through transitional phases. For Badger football, January 2006 presented a dramatic one as Barry Alvarez officially stepped down as head coach after 15 years of unquestioned success.
Enter Bret Bielema: a former University of Iowa standout with 10 years of coaching experience prior to his two-year stint as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. Bielema was undoubtedly the logical replacement, but could he really live up to the towering expectations the entire university had set for him?
Most of you know how he responded. He won Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, recorded an impressive Capital One Bowl victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks and finished with a 12-1 record, making him only the third coach in NCAA history to win 12 games in his rookie season.
Still, none of this impresses me as much as the way has handled himself on and off the field, particularly in the weeks leading up to Wisconsin's annual spring game.
Bielema put his marketing skills from his degree at Iowa to work, pitching his product all over campus. His goals were simple: to boost attendance for the spring game, to thank supporters for their continued commitment to the team and to create as much enthusiasm as possible for fans about the upcoming season.
Instead of taking a conventional route, Bielema went straight to the source by making tours to speak privately at fraternity and sorority houses all over campus. Despite a big new contract and lots of national attention, Bielema was extremely sincere throughout and seemed as hungry and excited as ever to make further steps of improvement.
He has every reason to be optimistic, even as another transitional stage approaches for the Badgers. Yes—they've lost their extremely dependable starting quarterback (John Stocco) and an NFL-bound offensive tackle (Joe Thomas) who provided important chemistry and leadership to help Wisconsin capture back-to-back Capital One Bowl titles.
However, the Badgers now boast one of the most experienced and athletic receiving cores in the nation, signed two fantastic new recruits at skill positions for the future (John Clay and Josh Oglesby) and have two credible starting quarterback candidates (Tyler Donovan and Allan Evridge) in a competition which appears to be headed down to the wire.
Last weekend's spring football game was a huge success, as almost 20,000 fans showed their support and excitement for the Badgers' upcoming season. Bielema watched closely from the sideline, continuing the unbreakable work ethic that has gotten him this far. Bielema has shown that he not only plans to continue the great period of success that Alvarez began, but to commence a legendary new era of his own.
