Posts Tagged ‘barry alvarez’

Wisconsin athletic director/interim head coach Barry Alvarez discussed the progress of his coaching search and  staff movement after the Badgers' bowl practice today. As you are surely well are, Alvarez fill in as head coach for Wisconsin's Rose Bowl date with Stanford after Bret Bielema's stunning departure to Arkansas.

Here are Alvarez's thoughts relevant to the search and the subsequent loss of assistant coaches. 

On the status of the search... We're moving along. We're progressing. Everyone gets anxious but I've said all along we were going to take our time. It's only been 10 days. I couldn't hire someone even if I wanted to until the latter part of this week. I feel good about the due diligence of the people that I've talked to. I have one more to visit with and then we'll sit down and decide on the best person. I feel good about the candidates we've interviewed.

On if there's a sense of urgency to hire a coach before the Rose Bowl... There isn't. This is a dead period now, you can't reruit anyhow. We've done a pretty good job of staying in contact with our recruits in the first week after Bret's resignation. I've felt pretty solid about all of them. We had a good group of commitments in. Our guys have done a good job of staying in contact with them. Hopefully when we get a new coach in place we'll get some momentum and really get everything going down. 

On losing assistant coaches... They couldn't delay their decision because other coaches were putting pressure on them and giving them 24 hours to make a decision. I'd like for them to stay but they had to protect their families. A coach says, 'You've got 24 hours to make a decision or your job isn't there.' I couldn't promise them the next coach would retain them. I was so emotionally zapped the other day, I was thinking about doing it myself just so we could keep them. If I do it for another year, we'd be in the same situation next year. It was unfortunate. I couldn't have sped the process up. I have to get to the people that I want to talk to. You have to do it right. I feel bad for losing them because they're very good coaches, very professional throughout this. Their main concern was the kids and getting them ready. They've given us everything as far as preparation, game planning and practice. 

On if his short list has changed... My short list changed immediately because many of the guys were hired prior to our opening. Some of the guys were loyal to their chancellor and to their program, that type of thing. 

On the perception of the Wisconsin job changing after so much recent turnover... That's an unfair question because it's not accurate. The guys that left last year, one guy got a head job and they all got promotions. We had one head guy that jumped and (the current assistants) have to make a decision. We're spoiled here because we were one of the most stable programs in the country with me being here 16 years and elevating an assistant (to head coach) for seven years. This happens around the country. I'll hire a good coach and this program will continue being very good. For those that are panicking, don't panic. We'll take care of business and this program will be in excellent hands. 

Shortly after the leaders of the Badgers were made aware of Bret Bielema's decision to leave Madison for the Arkansas head coaching job they reached out to Barry Alvarez to gauge his interest in leading the team for the Rose Bowl against Stanford.

With Alvarez honored to return to field, the Badgers have dispatched a film crew to chronicle his return in their "Path to Pasadena" series.

It's evident that players are stoked to have Alvarez, a coach that they watched lead the Badgers growing up, back on the sideline for their season finale.

Judging from the way he addresses the team, Alvarez hasn't missed a beat.

After the stunning departure of Bret Bielema for Arkansas, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez quickly inserted himself as the Badgers' figurehead head coach for the Rose Bowl. 

"I don't want this to be about me," Alvarez said at the time. "I want this to be about the players. I want to give them as good an opportunity to win the Rose Bowl as we possibly can."

The university announced today that the College Football Hall of Fame coach, three Rose Bowls while patrolling the sidelines for Wisconsin, will be paid $118,500 for his month-long return to coaching. In sum, Alvarez will make $203,500 this month: $195,000 for his coaching duties (90 percent of Bielema's monthly salary) and $8,500 for his athletic director duties. The $203,500 figure represents a $118,500 increase from Alvarez's regular athletic director salary. He can earn an additional $50,000 if the Badgers defeat Stanford on Jan. 1. The money for Alvarez's bump in pay is generated from Bielema's $1 million buyout. 

"We weighed the factors involved, including the unique circumstances that developed less than a month before the game, the challenges of the job, the marketplace and his strength as a coach and concluded that this is a reasonable arrangement," said Wisconsin Board President Brent Smith.

In other coaching bonus news, Jeremy Fowler of CBSSports.com reported today that recently departed Northern Illinois coach will miss out on a $100,000 bonus for leading Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl. Don't shed a tear for Doeren, though, as he received a raise from $400,000 to $1.8 million in leaving for N.C. State.

Nick Saban is in line for the biggest bonus of all BCS-bound coaches. The Crimson Tide head coach could make $400,000 with a win over Notre Dame. Louisville's Charlie Strong will receive a total of $291,667 for leading the Cardinals to the Sugar Bowl. Will Muschamp is due a bonus of $100,000, while Chip Kelly will get $50,000, Bill Snyder will receive $40,000 and Jimbo Fisher will earn $20,000. Fisher will root for major rankings chaos to benefit is 12th-ranked Seminoles, as he could earn an extra $100,000 if Florida State finishes in the top 5. 

The contracts for Notre Dame's Brian Kelly and Stanford's David Shaw are not public. 

Barry Alvarez sat down with the Wall Street Journal to explain exactly how the Bret Bielema to Arkansas situation played out in his eyes, and what they're looking for in the new head coach at Wisconsin.

As he explains, Bielema came into to his office Tuesday and said that they "needed to talk". That's when he informed Alvarez that Arkansas had offered him their head coaching job, and that he was going to take it. Alvarez confirmed that Bielema had already made his decision, and that there was no need for Wisconsin to make a counter offer.

The first move that Alvarez made after that conversation was to pick up the phone in order to reach out to people that he had on his "short list" in an effort to gauge their interest in the position.

As far as the new head coach goes, Alvarez explains that his first inclination is to look at guys that are acting head coaches, who have a sucessful track record in coaching and, most importantly, will fit into the Wisconsin culture and understand "how they win". He added that he does not plan on rushing the decision.

"My next responsibility is to start to screen head coaching candidates and keep moving forward, but I'm not going to be in a big rush, because it's a very important decision, and I'm going to make sure it's the right decision."

The interview is a bit long, but is worth watching until the very end. Alvarez goes on to explain why picking new members for conference expansion is "not like grocery shopping", and what it takes to turn around a losing culture.

After their 38-13 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, Jerry Kill was frustrated, yet upbeat about his Gophers. Kill was concerned about how public perception would effect the team after their third straight loss.

"There is so much negativity around. When you go into a program that hasn't won for a lot of years, there's instant negativity, and more so now because of all the social media and stuff. That can get to the kids. They don't need to hear it when they come in Sunday with the coaches, because they're so pounded down by then."

"There are some good things going on here. You've just got to really look hard at it right now." Kill said after the game.

One person in particualr took notice.

When Kill got to the bus, former Wisconsin coach, and current athletic director Barry Alvarez met him and offered some words of encouragement. Alvarez had been in a similar situation when he took over Wisconsin, the Star Tribune points out.

In his first three years in Madison, Alvarez's teams failed to produce a winning record (0-8, 2-6, 3-5). But those three seasons helped paved the way for over a decade and a half of success. Alvarez's career at Wisconsin resulted in an impressive overall record of 118-73-4.

"There are people who understand we're going the right way, but it's always reassuring to hear from people who have been there before." Kill noted of the conversation with Alvarez.

The Golden Gophers will look to get back on track against Purdue this weekend and end their three game skid. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm ET on the Big Ten Network.

If it were up to Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, college football teams from the major conferences would be part of one big "super league" that would make all the decisions in the world of college football. 

“I’d like to see a super league. I’d like to see a league — Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 — and have your own rules. Have rules that you know what the hell they are and that you could actually follow them, and let them have it." Alvarez, who was a proponent of a four team playoff earlier this year, told the Mobile Press Register. Notice that he did not mention the ACC and Big East.

"We’ve got a lot of rules. There’re a lot of haves and have-nots, and you’re making rules to make the have-nots happy."

“Let the guys who can afford it go do — the guys that are filling those big stadiums, the leagues that have the big TV contracts — let them go. That’s nothing against those other guys. But you can’t let that group hold the entire group back.’’

Although he noted that he doubts it would ever happen, Alvarez has made it clear that he wants to see the big football conferences running things and making decisions based on what is best for schools that are making the most money. Preferably without having to solicit input from the non BCS conferences and their members.