ARTY LIKE
IT���S 1999
A familiar face is back to lead the Badgers to a familar place.
Rose Bowl Hall of Famer Barry Alvarez is stepping in to call
the shots as Wisconsin returns to Pasadena.
W
hen Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez went to bed
Wednesday night, his mind
was racing on interviewing
potential candidates to replace Bret Bielema and coaching the players that
Bielema left behind when he accepted the head
coaching job at the University of Arkansas.
���I was fired up, I couldn���t sleep,������ he said. ���Early
this (Thursday) morning, I was trying to clean up
my e-mail, my texts and all the voicemails. I also
was trying to get some thoughts together as far as
meeting with the assistant coaches and the players.������
Two of those players ��� quarterback Curt Phillips and linebacker Mike Taylor ��� showed up
at Alvarez���s news conference at the Kohl Center.
Both were instrumental in relaying to Alvarez the
wishes of their teammates that the Hall of Fame
coach leads them into battle against Stanford in
the Rose Bowl.
���I was flattered,������ Alvarez said.
But it was not his original intention to take
over as an interim coach after Bielema caught
him ���totally off guard������ Tuesday morning with
the news that he was going to Arkansas.
���It didn���t even cross my mind,������ Alvarez said.
Bielema, in fact, was open to coaching the Badgers through the Rose Bowl.
���Bret said he would do anything I wanted him
to do,������ Alvarez said.
Bielema didn���t have to wait long for answer.
���I told him,������ Alvarez said, ���that he needed to go
to Arkansas.������
On Thursday, Alvarez had nothing but praise
for Bielema and what he���s done with the UW program. Bielema was his hand-picked successor
and over the years they���ve grown very close.
DAVID STLUKA
BY MIKE LUCAS ��� UWBADGERS.COM
