Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - December 20, 2012

Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.

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BEHIND THE DESK B A R RY A LVA R EZ ��� UW DIREC TOR OF AT H L ET IC S Successful search leads to great choice T hings happen fast in a coaching search, and you have to be flexible. During the season, you have a short list. But it���s changing all the time when coaches are fired and hired. So you have to have knowledge of who���s out there and who might be interested. One thing became obvious during the process: people respect our program. A lot of people were interested in the job. There were some I knew would be a good fit. There were some that I watched from afar and I was impressed with their teams and how they played and I was able to follow up on them. There were some people who were interested but were loyal to their administration, feeling like they hadn���t taken their program far enough yet, and if they left, they���d be starting from scratch. Or they had a family situation where they didn���t want to uproot their kids. I can respect that because there were times when I had to make those decisions. It���s a constant process and we just kept moving forward until we got to the point where I felt we had three good candidates that met everything I was looking for, and really fit our situation. We did our due diligence. We talked to the right people and I feel good about the way it all worked out. I did talk to one person with real strong ties to the program. But I didn���t feel that was necessary. My 12 �� VARSITY D EC E M B E R 20, 2012 first priority was a sitting head coach. If I could find the right person, I wanted someone with that experience. But I didn���t want to limit myself. That���s why I wasn���t adamant that it had to be a head coach. A lot of times in a coaching search, you���re making contact with an intermediary, or a coach���s agent. Sometimes you reach out to them. Sometimes they reach out to you. After one practice, I had an agent show up unannounced, and he started selling me on his client. But he wouldn���t tell me his name. Finally I said, ���Enough of all of this nonsense. Tell me who the hell the coach is?������ He told me and I said, ���I know him and I���m not hiring him. I���m not even going to talk to him.������ I could see where some people could use this job opening for leverage if they wanted it out there that I was talking to them. But I didn���t come across that. It was pretty confidential. During the interviewing, I was accompanied by Sean Frazier and Walter Dickey. It got to where we could anticipate the first question we were going to get: the assistant coaches salary pool. We���d laugh and I���d say, ���Oh, that���s interesting that you would ask about that first.������ All those who asked the question were fine with where we were with the salaries, too. A lot of people that I talked to wanted to know about me. What���s your involvement? Can I use you as a sounding board? How vocal will you be? How can I use you? They were all good questions. I told them that I���m going to stay low-profile. I���m going to watch practices and, in my own way, evaluate the assistant coaches. If I see something that stands out that I think they should know about, I will tell them. If I see something in a game that I recognize, I will tell them. I think there���s some knowledge that I would be foolish not to impart with them if I saw something that could potentially hurt us. Or something that could help us. I also told them that I would guide them through some things and get them accustomed to this community. I felt it was important they know I want them out there and expect them to be involved. They���re going to have to go out and sell our program ��� not only in this community but to the people around the state of Wisconsin and to our alums around the country. I definitely feel like we have the right guy in Gary Andersen. We have someone who���s going to be a fit; someone who has the qualities I was looking for. Gary is someone who understands our system, someone who really wants to be here, someone who cares about kids and someone who will indentify with our fans. When you hear Gary Andersen, you���ll know that he���s a football guy, a ball coach. I couldn���t be happier with the choice.

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