Since playing their first football game in 1889, the University of Wisconsin Badgers football program has seen its share of ups and downs. With an overall record of 614 wins and 465 losses, the ups have outweighed the downs, to be sure, but when the program has been down it has been for an extended period of time. For example, after their 1901 season, Badger teams suffered through what could only be described as a 35 year period of utter mediocrity – with the one exception being the team’s 1912 undefeated season. Another thirty year period of poor performances and mediocre results occurred after the Badgers’ 1962 loss in the Rose Bowl. It would not be until Barry Alvarez arrived as the team’s head coach in 1990 that the program’s fortunes would begin to turn around.
Alvarez’ coaching pedigree
Wisconsin certainly thought they knew what they were getting when they hired Alvarez. With experience playing the game for Bob Devaney three decades before, and coaching experience at the high school and college level, he certainly had the right resume for the position. He had even served as an assistant coach under the great Hayden Fry of Iowa, whose assistants have landed head coaching jobs across the NCAAs over the years. His brief time at Notre Dame only served t put an exclamation mark on his record. When he came to Wisconsin, Alvarez might have been the only person who expected the Wisconsin team to turn their program around. His first three years as the team’s coach certainly offered little hope to any of the fans.
It’s never easy
New coaches at any level often find their first few seasons rough going. Like a ship in the ocean, it takes time to turn around a college football program. In Alvarez and the Badgers’ case, it took three years. The first season resulted in only one win, while the next two seasons produced losing records as well – though both were much improved form that initial campaign. Of course, the rumors immediately began to fly that Alvarez would be fired or forced out of his job. He silenced those rumors as soon as the 1993 season got underway.
A new period of success
The Badgers looked like a different team altogether as the 1993 season started. They went through that season with only two losses, earning their fourth trip to the Rose Bowl. Though they had lost the first three Rose Bowl contests earlier in their history, Alvarez had his team ready to play that year and they achieved their first Rose Bowl win ever. In addition, his 1993 squad was honored with an Associate Press poll ranking of number six. Throughout the rest of Alvarez coaching years, the Badgers would have winning seasons every year but two, become consistent bowl-goers, and remain at or near the top of the Big Ten standings. Best of all, the Alvarez Badgers would repeat their performance in the Rose Bowl twice more, winning the Bowl in 1998, and again in 1999.
When he left the program after the 2005, the most successful coach in the program’s history left behind one unassailable fact: Wisconsin football was back at last!
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