Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
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A BEHIND THE DESK BY BARRY ALVAREZ // UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Importance of the Axe can't be overstated 16 fter last Saturday's game, I overheard someone asking our running back Corey Clement about Minnesota and he was saying that he was going to prepare for it like any other game. You don't want to do that. But he's a freshman and he doesn't know anything about the rivalry. I made that mistake early in my career. I just treated it like another game the first couple of years. I learned quickly about the importance of the Axe. Sunday afternoon, I went up to Gary Andersen's office and I sat down and talked to him about the rivalry and some of the more memorable games in the series. My first road win was up there when Mel Tucker knocked the ball loose from their receiver in the end zone. Mel is now the Bears' defensive coordinator. He'll be a head coach some day in the NFL. I was telling Gary how much I loved playing in the Metrodome. I especially liked it this time of the year when it was snowing and cold. I liked the consistency it provided. We had some crazy games. Gary understands the rivalry. He was saying when he was at Utah, they put a lot into their rivalry with BYU. Regardless of the records, they always had great games, not unlike MinnesotaWisconsin. I found my notes from some of those games. My offensive line coach, Jim Hueber, had been on the Minnesota staff, so he was our historian and he talked to the players about the rivalry. // VARSITY November 21, 2013 There were a lot of stories on Pug Lund and Bronko Nagurski. You just want to make sure your players are ready and they put a lot into it and they know that this is a very important game. Our senior class knows that. This is a good group of seniors. This group hasn't overlooked anybody this season. This is a group that knows how to win. They've played some real physical games and they've played without starters. But other guys have stepped up and they've found ways to win which speaks volumes for them. Gary is planning on having some former players talk to the team this week. He's going to get some NFL players on video and we can put it on the big screen in the stadium for the kids. Minnesota has a nice team. They've got a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence and they're playing at home. It will probably be the most excited crowd they've had in a long time. They'll make a big deal out of Saturday's game, and they should. During their winning streak, Jerry Kill has been coaching out of the press box. I had no choice but to coach from there after I had complications with my knee in 1999. I wasn't crazy about it, but I had no alternative, so I made the best of it. You just figure out a way to get it done. I was able to get more involved with our offensive coordinator Brian White. Being right there with him, I talked to him about anticipating plays and anticipating calls; that type of thing. You see the game differently in the press box and you're communicating with your coordinators, who are next to you. But I was more in touch with the game on the sidelines. That was important to me. I always felt that my strength was being with the kids where I could see their eyes and I could see their body language and I could communicate with them during the game. You can imagine my frustration in '99 when I was stuck in a small hospital room at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., because of a knee infection, and we were playing the Gophers in the Metrodome. That was a good Minnesota team that we ended up beating in overtime. That was pretty special. There have been many special memories from this rivalry. We'd like to add to the list Saturday.