Building a Program

I have heard lots about how this is Kill's 4th year and the program should be built and the losses this year are frustrating and blame on coaches, etc.....

Saturday was as frustrated as I have been in a long time. In my mind that is good, as expectations are raised and when we make mistakes that turn the game we are getting closer. I have also heard lots about how long it took Wisconsin to build their program. So I looked it up - this is Barry Alvarez's records at Wisconsin. Note they had they good year in Year 4 then played "Mason Like 500 ball" for 4 years - wasn't until Year 9 that they went back to back in the Rose Bowl. So while it started well early it took 9 years to build the system they have in place. Even after the back to back they returned to normal for 4-5 years.....I believe Coach Kill has us in that direction.

There will never be more pressure on the AD to get $$$ and shovels in the ground than now. We have a good football coach who is loyal and a staff that doesn't change every year. We have a good young Basketball Coach who would probably stick around if we took care of him and he got to build his own "Rome". But when you read about Nebraska paying $12mm or more in buyouts (burning money) and would have no problem buying out a coach like the Colorado St coach ($8mm), $20mm up in thin air and we only have about $40mm in shovel ready cash.

We need to decide who we want to be....we are either going to build programs that can be like Wisconsin and what Iowa Football was like...or we are going to be an Illinois and NW with a random year or two of greatness but mediocre traditional football. I hope these coaches finally have us in a position to go BIG or go home....next 6 months have never been more important.

Head coaching record[edit]
Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Conference) (1990–2005)
1990 Wisconsin 1–10 0–8 10th
1991 Wisconsin 5–6 2–6 T–8th
1992 Wisconsin 5–6 3–5 T–6th
1993 Wisconsin 10–1–1 6–1–1 T–1st W Rose 5 6
1994 Wisconsin 7–4–1 4–3–1 4th W Hall of Fame
1995 Wisconsin 4–5–2 3–4–1 T–7th
1996 Wisconsin 8–5 3–5 7th W Copper
1997 Wisconsin 8–5 5–3 5th L Outback
1998 Wisconsin 11–1 7–1 T–1st W Rose† 5 6
1999 Wisconsin 10–2 7–1 1st W Rose† 4 4
2000 Wisconsin 9–4 4–4 T–5th W Sun 24 23
2001 Wisconsin 5–7 3–5 T–8th
2002 Wisconsin 8–6 2–6 T–8th W Alamo
2003 Wisconsin 7–6 4–4 T–7th L Music City
2004 Wisconsin 9–3 6–2 3rd L Outback 18 17
2005 Wisconsin 10–3 5–3 T–3rd W Capital One 15 15

Good post.

My new favorite phrase is "shovel-ready cash."

Valid point about taking 9 years and Kill has said himself 7 years.

It took 9 years but there was the huge payoff in year 4 for Alvarez which gave him more time.

Is the administration and fan base going to be ok with as you put it "Mason like 500 ball" for another 3-5 years without the huge payoff?

Unless the administration and fan base feel as though this season with the chance to win the West Division and a chance to play on New Year's Day is payoff enough?

Or does the next 3-5 years need to include winning a Tier 1/2 type bowl if not at least a B1G Championship game appearance?

scools12 said:

Valid point about taking 9 years and Kill has said himself 7 years.

It took 9 years but there was the huge payoff in year 4 for Alvarez which gave him more time.

Are people going to be ok with as you put it "Mason like 500 ball" for another 3-5 years without the huge payoff?

Unless people feel as though this season with the chance to win the West Division and a chance to play on New Year's Day is payoff enough? Or does the next 3-5 years need to include winning a Tier 1/2 type bowl?

Click to expand...

Kill said this year that the team was in place to compete for a championship quicker than he thought. He also said they made a bowl quicker than he thought in, which explains burning redshirts late in 2012.
I expected 6-6 to 8-4 depending on the bounces of the ball this year, losses to TCU, Michigan, OSU, Neb, wisky, and maybe a fluke L or W somewhere.
That's got to be the expectation most people had, they're probably what Kill had too in the back of his mind.
This season shattered those expectations, filled the trophy case, and gave us a title run into late november. Now the program will have to satiate elevated expectations.

I've heard crazy things like 10-2 being thrown out, but honestly we probably have a similar record again.
7-5 to 9-3ish. TCU and OSU should be top 10 again, nothing says you can't upset them but still.
NW/Purdue/Illinois remain in our favor. Michigan and Nebraska could rise or fall further depending on their coaching hires and the transitions. Iowa looks beatable but also is tougher at home. Wisky appears beatable but will take a good effort, I like homefield for that one next season.

The key for Kill now is to continue to build brick by brick. Find solid replacements for Wilson, Cobb, Thompson, Olson, and Epping. Add key playmakers to the offense in Jones/Holland/Gentry/Gibson etc, keep the defense solid, keep the special teams execution good.
As long as the program incrementally gets better every year we'll be fine.
It may be 7 years before we see a breakthrough season of 10+ wins, but if we keep winning big games like we did this season I would hope people enjoy the ride and continue to support the program's slow burn towards excellence.