So, the Wisconsin Badgers will ring in the New Year at the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando.
This… is a recording.
Same venue as last year, but there will be a different team on the other side of the field as Arkansas has replaced Auburn. Back in January, the SEC sent in Auburn to turn on the burners and speed right past that plodding outfit from the Big Ten. Didn’t happen. Barry Alvarez went out on top, and now it’s up to Bret Bielema to continue the postseason march. Luckily, the new head coach is just a few office doors down from the man who mastered bowl game preparation.
“It’s interesting to me, when I’ve been at other institutions, a lot of times, one of the conversation pieces of the staff has been ‘Why don’t we touch base with someone at Wisconsin?’” Bielema said. “It’s been very beneficial for me, and I’m excited to have been here for two years to have the opportunity to carry that forward.”
Alvarez, who was 8-3 in bowl games during his 16 seasons on the Wisconsin sideline, doesn’t mind sharing his recipe for success.
“A bowl game has to be a reward for the players, coaches and their families, but in the same respect, you want to prepare to win the game…not just be satisfied to go to a bowl game,” Alvarez said. “You always have to make that important, but let the players know, we’ll allow you to have fun, go to all the events, but once we start to practice, we’re going to practice. The bottom line is, when it came time to play, we could always compete.”
Bielema and Alvarez were both on hand last weekend in Middleton for the Mendota Gridiron Club’s annual senior banquet. It was a night to honor the soon to be departing players. One of them, former Brookfield Central standout Joe Thomas, returns to the scene of the accident. Thomas projects to be a first round draft pick in the National Football League next April, but nearly had his dream shattered when he suffered a right knee injury playing defense in Orlando.
“I took the injury and tried to find any positive, and it turns out, I was able to work on getting that upper body strength that I needed and put on a few extra pounds,” Thomas said. “Hopefully, I would be able to use that injury to my advantage going into this year, and I think I was able to have an even better year and stay focused.”
The focus now is on the bowl game January 1st. Bielema fired up the practice plans last week, even though the Badgers didn’t have an opponent locked in.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to go back down to Orlando and prove what we do best,” said Bielema. “We are very comfortable in that environment. We were able to pull out a great win over Auburn a year ago, and knew whoever came on the plate this year was going to present an excellent opportunity. Outside of the BCS mix, I’m sure this is a very exciting match up for everybody.”
So how will the Badgers keep that edge? By the time they hit the field, it will be some six weeks between games. Players like Thomas, who have been going full tilt during this 11-1 season will take the time to heal some bumps and bruises. There will be classes to complete and exams to take, but according to the former head coach, once the team steps off the plane into the Florida sunshine, the staff shifts into high gear.
“You send a message early on,” explained Alvarez. “You let the guys run the first two days…let them stay up as late as they want. They get tired, and then we scrimmage and you beat them up for two days…they’re so tired they back off, and then you back off.”
My cohorts during our live radio broadcast from the senior event both played in big bowls games under Alvarez. Former center Derek Engler and linebacker Tarek Saleh figured out that all the extracurricular activities planned by Alvarez was also stirring up the pot.
“We were competing in everything,” Engler said. “It didn’t matter what it was, we wanted to win it. And Coach Alvarez really had us ready to play. I remember at the Hall of Fame Bowl (1994), we had a key lime pie eating contest and one of my teammates got to the point where you could see he was physically getting ill and forcing to hold it in.”
“We created competition no matter what it was,” said Alvarez. “Whether it was eating pies or singing…if you have to sing, then find the best singer, send him up there, we’ve got to beat them (the opponent). You win everything. If the wives go to a luncheon, my wife has to do a better job than their wife…I have to do a better job speaking than their head coach. It all plays a part in boosting up the confidence.”
“You go out and have a lot of fun, but when you get out on the field, it’s time to go,” said Saleh. “All business, and that’s the way they always go out and do it, so expect nothing less from the Badgers this year.”
Say what you will about the BCS snub or the Badgers’ less-than-powerful schedule, but Bielema has carried the torch passed to him by Barry quite nicely. And like his former boss, Bielema buys into the fact that a bowl game is still a pretty big deal this time of year. Any positive result helps springboard a team that will return a handful of talented players in 2007.
”I’m very excited because of how many players we return next year, and just those sheer numbers, to be able to propel ourselves off a victory in our bowl game would be very beneficial,” said Bielema. “But the only way to get to that point is to follow the same recipe that we’ve used to get here before.”
This will be the first Wisconsin bowl game in a long time without Alvarez pacing the sidelines. But in case you didn’t notice, Barry didn’t do much pacing while watching upstairs from his executive box this season. Winning helps keep his finger nails attached, but the man with a record of 118-73-4 in Madison truly enjoyed watching what he left behind.
“I was very impressed and liked what I saw because I saw a team that got better and that played consistently throughout,” said Alvarez. “I had a lot of confidence in Bret when I named him, and I knew the holes…the questions marks going in. But to see the coaches finding answers, the players going out on the field and be productive, that was impressive.”
This… is a recording.
Same venue as last year, but there will be a different team on the other side of the field as Arkansas has replaced Auburn. Back in January, the SEC sent in Auburn to turn on the burners and speed right past that plodding outfit from the Big Ten. Didn’t happen. Barry Alvarez went out on top, and now it’s up to Bret Bielema to continue the postseason march. Luckily, the new head coach is just a few office doors down from the man who mastered bowl game preparation.
“It’s interesting to me, when I’ve been at other institutions, a lot of times, one of the conversation pieces of the staff has been ‘Why don’t we touch base with someone at Wisconsin?’” Bielema said. “It’s been very beneficial for me, and I’m excited to have been here for two years to have the opportunity to carry that forward.”
Alvarez, who was 8-3 in bowl games during his 16 seasons on the Wisconsin sideline, doesn’t mind sharing his recipe for success.
“A bowl game has to be a reward for the players, coaches and their families, but in the same respect, you want to prepare to win the game…not just be satisfied to go to a bowl game,” Alvarez said. “You always have to make that important, but let the players know, we’ll allow you to have fun, go to all the events, but once we start to practice, we’re going to practice. The bottom line is, when it came time to play, we could always compete.”
Bielema and Alvarez were both on hand last weekend in Middleton for the Mendota Gridiron Club’s annual senior banquet. It was a night to honor the soon to be departing players. One of them, former Brookfield Central standout Joe Thomas, returns to the scene of the accident. Thomas projects to be a first round draft pick in the National Football League next April, but nearly had his dream shattered when he suffered a right knee injury playing defense in Orlando.
“I took the injury and tried to find any positive, and it turns out, I was able to work on getting that upper body strength that I needed and put on a few extra pounds,” Thomas said. “Hopefully, I would be able to use that injury to my advantage going into this year, and I think I was able to have an even better year and stay focused.”
The focus now is on the bowl game January 1st. Bielema fired up the practice plans last week, even though the Badgers didn’t have an opponent locked in.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to go back down to Orlando and prove what we do best,” said Bielema. “We are very comfortable in that environment. We were able to pull out a great win over Auburn a year ago, and knew whoever came on the plate this year was going to present an excellent opportunity. Outside of the BCS mix, I’m sure this is a very exciting match up for everybody.”
So how will the Badgers keep that edge? By the time they hit the field, it will be some six weeks between games. Players like Thomas, who have been going full tilt during this 11-1 season will take the time to heal some bumps and bruises. There will be classes to complete and exams to take, but according to the former head coach, once the team steps off the plane into the Florida sunshine, the staff shifts into high gear.
“You send a message early on,” explained Alvarez. “You let the guys run the first two days…let them stay up as late as they want. They get tired, and then we scrimmage and you beat them up for two days…they’re so tired they back off, and then you back off.”
My cohorts during our live radio broadcast from the senior event both played in big bowls games under Alvarez. Former center Derek Engler and linebacker Tarek Saleh figured out that all the extracurricular activities planned by Alvarez was also stirring up the pot.
“We were competing in everything,” Engler said. “It didn’t matter what it was, we wanted to win it. And Coach Alvarez really had us ready to play. I remember at the Hall of Fame Bowl (1994), we had a key lime pie eating contest and one of my teammates got to the point where you could see he was physically getting ill and forcing to hold it in.”
“We created competition no matter what it was,” said Alvarez. “Whether it was eating pies or singing…if you have to sing, then find the best singer, send him up there, we’ve got to beat them (the opponent). You win everything. If the wives go to a luncheon, my wife has to do a better job than their wife…I have to do a better job speaking than their head coach. It all plays a part in boosting up the confidence.”
“You go out and have a lot of fun, but when you get out on the field, it’s time to go,” said Saleh. “All business, and that’s the way they always go out and do it, so expect nothing less from the Badgers this year.”
Say what you will about the BCS snub or the Badgers’ less-than-powerful schedule, but Bielema has carried the torch passed to him by Barry quite nicely. And like his former boss, Bielema buys into the fact that a bowl game is still a pretty big deal this time of year. Any positive result helps springboard a team that will return a handful of talented players in 2007.
”I’m very excited because of how many players we return next year, and just those sheer numbers, to be able to propel ourselves off a victory in our bowl game would be very beneficial,” said Bielema. “But the only way to get to that point is to follow the same recipe that we’ve used to get here before.”
This will be the first Wisconsin bowl game in a long time without Alvarez pacing the sidelines. But in case you didn’t notice, Barry didn’t do much pacing while watching upstairs from his executive box this season. Winning helps keep his finger nails attached, but the man with a record of 118-73-4 in Madison truly enjoyed watching what he left behind.
“I was very impressed and liked what I saw because I saw a team that got better and that played consistently throughout,” said Alvarez. “I had a lot of confidence in Bret when I named him, and I knew the holes…the questions marks going in. But to see the coaches finding answers, the players going out on the field and be productive, that was impressive.”
Born and raised in Milwaukee, what better outlet for Bob to unleash his rambling bits of trivial information than right here with OnMilwaukee.com?
Bob currently does play-by-play at Time Warner Cable Sports 32, calling Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games in Appleton as well as the area high school football and basketball scene. During an earlier association with FS Wisconsin, his list of teams and duties have included the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and the WIAA State Championships.
During his life before cable, Bob spent seven seasons as a reporter and producer of "Preps Plus: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel High School Sports Show."
And the joke is, Bob has a golf shirt from all four Milwaukee television stations. Sad, but true: Bob has had sports and news anchor/reporter/producer stints at WTMJ, WISN, WDJT and WITI.
His first duty out of college (UW-Oshkosh) was radio and TV work in Eau Claire. Bob spent nearly a decade at WEAU-TV as a sports director and reporter.
You may have heard Bob's pipes around town as well. He has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Milwaukee Iron, and UW-Milwaukee men's and women's basketball. Bob was the public address announcer for five seasons for both the Marquette men and women's basketball squads. This season, you can catch the starting lineups of the UW-Milwaukee Panther men's games with Bob behind the mic.
A Brookfield Central graduate, Bob's love and passion for sports began at an early age, when paper football leagues, and Wiffle Ball All Star Games were all the rage in the neighborhood.
