By: Andrew Harry

Bielema: “A rebirth of Wisconsin football”

There will be no shortage of fresh faces for the 2012 UW football team. The team added five new coaches in the offseason, with a sixth tight ends coach yet to be signed, and 12 scholarship recruits. Head coach Bret Bielema and his staff face many obstacles in attempting to win a third straight Big Ten title.

“It’s a fun time to be here, I think it’s a rebirth of Wisconsin football,” Bielema said. “We may have a few tweaks and a few alterations, but what we’ve known to have success here is not going to change.”

According to Bielema, his time on the road interviewing coaches allowed him to gain many insights into different coaching philosophies that perhaps will portend a few different looks next season.

“It was fun because I got to meet so many great coaches,” Bielema said. “I got to interview 15 other great coaches [and] learn from them. I always believe that you can be in the information gathering rather than the information giving.”

Losing one of the top play callers in the country in Paul Chryst certainly hurts, but new offensive coordinator Matt Canada and wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni (both coming from mainly spread scheme backgrounds at Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky, respectively) should provide fresh ideas for the offensive playbook. However, Bielema assured that the Badgers will stick with the offensive philosophy that has taken them to consecutive Rose Bowls–the power running game.

“I think one of our guys that we were recruiting at the o-line position was told by an o-line coach from [Pittsburgh] that we were running the spread, which I know is not going to happen here,” Bielema said.

Undoubtedly, losing four coaches to Pittsburgh has created tension on the recruiting trail along the northeastern part of the country, where the Badgers have signed 17 players since the 2006 season.

“The Pitt deal [is] obviously a little different deal,” Bielema said. “They went in on some of our guys so that doesn’t sit over well. It was interesting; everybody is still invited to my wedding, so it could be one hell of a party.”

Count me in for the reception coach, sounds like a good time.

With five coaching departures this year, and eight in the last two years, many Badgers fans have feared something intrinsic about Bielema had caused the coaching changes. Yet many of the moves made were not lateral, and the coaches that left either improved their position or improved their salary.

“I’m not firing [the coaches],” Bielema said, “I’m just getting out-hired, some other people have a lot of cash and a lot of promises out there.”

Additionally, Bielema spoke about how he left Iowa–there were hugs and tears, but the next week he was being blamed for doing something in recruiting. However, it seems that there was no antagonism between the coaches at UW.

“Paul Chryst wrote me a letter; I’m glad I was by myself because I cried like a baby,” Bielema said.

Clearly, a lack of coaching continuity pervades college football, and there is some give and take. For instance, newly appointed offensive coordinator Matt Canada comes from Northern Illinois; where former UW defensive coordinator Dave Doeren left to become head coach last season. Despite the fact that many coaches left for other schools, Bielema has been able to once again secure a tremendous group of coaches capable of maintaining or even exceeding the Badgers high level of excellence.

“It’s been one of the more enjoyable times of my life,” Bielema said.

Badgers sign small, talented class

The 2012 Badger recruiting class didn’t turn many heads nationally. But do they ever? The Badgers have a proven method for molding hard-working Wisconsin kids into perennial starters and All-Big Ten selections. Despite recent recruiting classes being ranked 41st, 26th, unranked, 33rd, and 38th by Scout.com, the Badgers have achieved consecutive Rose Bowls, consecutive Big Ten titles, and are one of six teams to win ten games in the last three seasons.

Since Bielema’s first season as head coach in 2006, the Badgers have amassed 60 wins–averaging ten wins per season. The Badgers also boast three Big Ten Freshman of the Year award winners: P.J. Hill (2006), Chris Borland (2009), and James White (2010). Between 2007 and 2009 the Badgers signed 62 players; 34 of those players became starters, and 18 of them were All-Big Ten selections.

You can view an in-depth chronology of Bielema’s recruiting since 2006 here: http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=313753

Bielema’s recruiting classes, though not highly touted, have certainly produced quality players. Badgers fans can be rest assured that although this class lacks elite five-star prospects, Bielema and his newly aligned staff will work tirelessly to develop these players into outstanding people on and off the football field.

In this recruiting class, consisting of 12 scholarship players and preferred seven walk-ons, the Badgers expanded their traditional recruiting grounds. UW landed two recruits from the West coast: quarterback Bart Houston and offensive lineman Walker Williams.

Additionally, the Badgers reached towards the East coast in safety D.J. Singelton, defensive back Reggie Mitchell, and defensive lineman Arthur Goldberg.

Bielema also landed recruits from the home state, garnering three Wisconsin signees including decorated linebacker Vince Biegel and running back Vonte Jackson. The Badgers also remained a presence in Florida–a recent pipeline state–where the Badgers signed cornerback Hugs Etienne and wide receiver Reggie Love.

Bielema thought that it was a quality class for the Badgers, signing positions of need on the offensive line, in the backfield, and at quarterback.

“We knew it was going to be a small class in number,” Bielema said. “We really wanted to concentrate on the offensive line, obviously we want to sign a quarterback and running back in every group.”

The Badgers get a talented backfield tandem with Bart Houston and Vonte Jackson. Houston, an ESPN elite 11 quarterback, heralds from De La Salle high school where he won three state championships and only lost one game. Jackson, a backfield teammate with Melvin Gordon at Kenosha Bradford, is the 22nd ranked running back in the country according to ESPN.

The Badgers also signed four offensive linemen including a last minute acquisition in Jake Meador. Meador originally committed to the University of Mississippi, but reconsidered his decision after the coaching transition at the school. New UW offensive line coach Mike Markuson, formerly at Ole Miss, was key in recruiting Meador.

Meador was initially leaning towards Florida, but Bielema opined that Meador’s visit to Madison convinced him to come to UW.

“It’s a true credit to our kids,” Bielema said. “He visited this past weekend, really on Saturday through the day you saw him really open up. It shows the impact that Madison and the kids have during the recruiting process.”

Bielema not only recruited high school football players during the past couple weeks, he also had to convince Markuson, who fielded NFL offers.

“The next day [after getting hired] he had an NFL job opportunity, and I went into high recruiting mode on that one, and he came the very next day which was very important,” Bielema said.

Bielema also had to fend off schools offering scholarships to his preferred walk-ons, a program that Bielema is very proud of and a program that has produced notable players such as Bradie Ewing, Ricky Wagner, Jared Abbrederis, Jim Leonhard, and Luke Swan.

“Midwestern Athletic Conference schools [and] other schools from across the country started going after our preferred walk-ons. Jack Russell (kicker from Waunakee, WI) turned down a full scholarship to go to Pittsburgh,” Bielema said.

“I think these guys are going to be 2-3 years from now, guys that we’re talking about.”

In terms of players able to contribute early, Bielema sees a number of players who might see time. Bielema noted that the early enrollees, Dan Voltz, Vonte Jackson, and Hugs Etienne will have a distinct advantage come fall.

“I think Dan Voltz physically is very gifted, a guy just by pure numbers [who] is going to have a shot in the spring,” Bielema said. “He reminds me a lot of when we brought Travis Frederick in. Dan was a big one for us; he’s very mature and very precise in what he wants to do. Vonte is a very, very gifted young man that can move and Hugs is a guy that needs the development work and all that goes through it.”

“It’s going to be a fun class to watch, we’ll let them get in here and see.”

The relatively small size of the class allowed Bielema and his staff to focus on maintaining the players who had committed to UW, even after all of the turmoil from coaches departing.

“It was a blessing in disguise that it was a small class,” Bielema said. “If it would have been another ten players that we had to keep track of, it wouldn’t have been good.”

These past couple months have been nothing but madness for Bielema, but it’ll be worth it when the Badgers walk under the Camp Randall arch on a crisp fall day amongst masses of red leaves and fans, between two glistening lakes. After all, it’s the space between that matters, whether it’s the offseason of hard work or the isthmus we live on. The season opener against Northern Iowa is only 212 days away.