Wisconsin Coaching Search: Who Might Replace Gary Andersen in Madison?

Gary Andersen bolted Wisconsin for Oregon State yesterday in a move that seemed to come out of nowhere. Thus, athletic director Barry Alvarez is forced to embark on his second coaching search in 24 months. As a Wisconsin alum, I’m not terribly disappointed that Andersen is gone (but, perhaps having learned my lesson, won’t write another gleeful takedown like when Bielema left). Though the Badgers went 19-7 during Andersen’s tenure, more than half of those wins came against veritable tomato cans — the team went 3-4 against opponents ranked in the Top 25 at the time and 0-4 against ones in the Top 15.

Just this year, there was the “misunderstanding” with Heisman candidate Melvin Gordon about a the seriousness of a hip injury against LSU, which led the running back to sit most of the second half after he’d run 16 times for 140 yards as the Badgers blew a 17-point lead. Northwestern’s Ryan Field has been a house of horrors for Wisconsin as long as I can remember, but that loss was ugly. While Ohio State showed itself to assuredly be the better team this past Saturday, it was more than discouraging to sit in Lucas Oil and watch a 59-0 shellacking.

Anyways, it doesn’t do much good to look back and harp on the negatives at this point. So long as Wisconsin continues to be a factory for monster offensive linemen and powerful running backs and their B1G division remains chock full of cupcakes, everything should be comparatively fine. Who might steward the next era?

Paul Chryst (pictured up-top): Was Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator from 2005-2011, and the head coach of Pitt for the last three years. Perhaps would’ve landed the Badgers job over Andersen in 2012 had he not wanted to be a flighty weasel by bolting the Panthers after just one season. If I were a betting man, etc. [UPDATE: A meeting between Chryst and Alvarez is “imminent,” according to Madison.com]

Darrell Bevell: The Seahawks offensive coordinator played quarterback for Barry Alvarez and led the Badgers to victory over UCLA in the 1994 Rose Bowl. His name’s been floated out there as a potential candidate, possibly because he and/or his agent wants that to be known. As Bleacher Report’s Zach Kruse pointed out, one might be concerned that, as an NFL guy, Bevell would jump ship if/when the opportunity to be a pro head coach arose, forcing Wisconsin to once again replace its head coach after just a couple years.

Pat Narduzzi: The Michigan State defensive coordinator’s name keeps popping up on my Twitter feed as the guy the Badgers NEED to get. In his somber press conference yesterday, Barry Alvarez said that he’d prefer to hire somebody with previous head coaching experience, which would eliminate Narduzzi (as well as Bevell). Nevertheless, he’d be perhaps the most exciting name on this list.

Mel Tucker: The presumably soon-to-be-fired Bears defensive coordinator is another one of Barry’s former players. He was on all these lists in 2012, and reportedly said “Thanks but no thanks” to remain defensive coordinator and assistant head coach in Jacksonville at that time. With Tucker, you’d have the same concerns as with Bevell, as well as worries that the Bears defense was the functional equivalent of the Springfield Tire Fire the last two years with him at the helm.

Greg Schiano: His temperament wouldn’t seem to fit the liberal Madison neighborhood, but he is just sitting out there and was supposedly humbled by his failure in Tampa Bay. There could be worse hires from a pure football perspective, but would Barry hire someone like that after just having lost two head coaches who did not view Wisconsin as a “destination” job?

Jim Tressel: This is almost certainly utterly implausible, but it’s my list and this is who I’d go after if I had a remote control to make my sports teams do as I say. A bigger red flag to me than the absurd controversy over players receiving free tattoos is that Tressel is 62 years old now. If Tressel and Alvarez were mutually interested, I believe that Alvarez, as a member of the college football playoff committee and seemingly plugged into the B1G and NCAA bureaucracies, could cut through the red tape, help mitigate the show-cause situation, and point out that the five-game suspension Tressel was imposed was enforced when he worked for the Colts. McWorld: Hey, it could happen?

MYSTERY CANDIDATE: I don’t recall Gary Andersen appearing on any of these lists in 2012. Just as the announcement that he was leaving for Oregon State was abrupt, there were no rumors that he was considering the job until he was hired. Who’s to say whether or not Barry Alvarez would go to that proverbial well again.

UPDATE: Evan Flood of 247Sports reports that Bo Pelini is in the mix (though he wasn’t on the original list, he has a high enough profile not to be classified as a MYSTERY CANDIDATE). Pelini just got fired, but he also led Nebraska to nine wins every year he was there. Worse things have happened in history. If it did wind up going down, that’d be a de facto three-man game of musical chairs with Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oregon State.

Since we’re here, we might as well mention that this was a real post from the official Badger Twitter account (who would certainly qualify as a MYSTERY CANDIDATE):

Well that settles it. Anything less than Jon Gruden would be a supreme disappointment*.

*Obviously kidding.

[Photo via ESPN Wisconsin]