Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/118115
LUCAS AT LARGE M I K E LUCA S ��� UWB A DGERS.C OM SPRING PRACTICE: FIRST-HALF HIGHLIGHTS a young assistant while being front and center at the Wisconsin High School Coaches Association football clinic. Andersen was clearly in his element mingling and talking X���s and O���s with coaches from various levels of the sport. ���It was great for us to be around the high school coaches and get to know them on a personal level and talk some football,������ he said. ���It was important to be in that environment and get a grasp of Wisconsin football in general; a lot of the people we talked to was about the youth leagues.������ Andersen has always felt strongly about learning potential. ���It���s awesome to get new ideas,������ he said. ���Whether you���re a young coach or an old coach, you���re never too good to progress. The day you think you are is the day you become stagnant and you���re in the middle of the ocean without a sail.������ The Badgers return to the practice field on Monday, and there will be no surprises. ���I���ll tweak a few 16 �� VARSITY MAR CH 28, 2013 things,������ Andersen said. ���But we���re not going to come out and stretch a different way or do this or do that and all of a sudden the world is going to be completely flipped upsidedown.������ The message has been consistent since he took over the program and held one-on-one meetings with the players. ���It was good to get a feel for where he was coming from and what he thought of me,������ Muldoon said. ���He thinks of all of us as leaders and he let me know what my role was on the team.������ Dippel got the same vibe, even more so. As a linebacker, he was in the position group that directly came under Andersen���s influence during the early practices. ���You really get a feel for what kind of guy he is,������ Dippel said. ���He���s a happy guy who loves to work. I enjoyed his company.������ Like a teacher in the classroom, he���s the happiest when he���s on the field. ���I try to be in a lot of different places during practice,������ Andersen said. ���But I also want to let the kids know I care about their position group and I care about their side of the football. I think that���s important.������ So far he has been pleased with the results. ���The kids seem to be getting a good grasp of the scheme and are moving in the right direction,������ he said. ���Any time you have a change in coaches, a complete flip-flop in staff, and new terminology and ideas, it takes time. But life is full of change, too.������ Andersen noted that he has received positive feedback from Badgers fans on the scheduling of a 2015 game with Alabama. ���But I haven���t had one kid come up to me and say, ���Oh, we���re playing Alabama and we���re excited about that or not excited about that,��������� he pointed out. That pleased him to no end. ���They understand we have nine practices of spring ball left,������ he said, ���and we still have to take care of the 2013 season long before 2015.������ It was music to his ears.