Tramel's ScissorTales: Barry Alvarez built Wisconsin Badgers into a college football power

Barry Alvarez came to Wisconsin 33 years ago as the Badgers’ football coach and did what we all ought to do with a new job.

He looked around.

Alvarez saw big, strong farm boys. The descendants of German and Scandanavian immigrants.

And Alvarez hatched a plan to win football games. Seventeen years after Alvarez retired as Wisconsin’s football coach, and a year after he retired as athletic director, that plan still works.

The Badgers play Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Tuesday, and while 2022 is a massively disappointing season for 6-6 Wisconsin, with favorite sons Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard having been fired from and bypassed for, respectively, the head coaching job, that’s the point.

Wisconsin is a big winner on the college gridiron. Chryst’s 67-26 record wasn’t enough to save his job. The Badgers have been thinking big and winning big since 1993, when Alvarez’s fourth squad reached the Rose Bowl and ushered in the golden age of Wisconsin football.

“We do it the right way,” Alvarez said the other day from Florida, where in the last 18 months he’s able to spend more time after more than three decades leading the Badgers as football coach and/or athletic director. “We’re normally a team that’s good fundamentally, always going to be a physical team. We’re going to be a little more run than pass. If you can’t stop the run, we may not pass. That’s what you’re going to get.”

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The Badgers haven’t had much Oklahoma exposure. They’ve never played OSU. Had a two-game series with OU back in 1969-70, when the world was young. Oklahomans might not realize how consistently excellent Wisconsin has been over the last three decades.

Get ready to be impressed.

Among power-conference programs in the last 30 years, here are the top seven in victories: Ohio State 316, Alabama 299, OU 284, Georgia 282, Florida 275, Florida State 275 and Wisconsin 265.

The Badgers have more victories than do Clemson, Oregon or Louisiana State (each with 264). More than Southern Cal (259), Michigan (258) or Penn State (255). More than Texas (254) or Nebraska. More than Notre Dame or Miami or Auburn or Brigham Young (246 each).

Wisconsin isn’t flashy. Wisconsin isn’t sexy. But Wisconsin wins, year after year, decade after decade, thanks to the foundation laid by Alvarez.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez built a brand at Wisconsin, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, Bob Devaney at Nebraska, Steve Spurrier at Florida, Gary Patterson at Texas Christian. Who else had such a solitary impact on a program? Maybe Don Nehlen at West Virginia, Rich Brooks at Oregon, Don James at Washington or Hayden Fry at Iowa?

Alvarez was born and raised in Pennsylvania, was a Devaney linebacker at Nebraska in the 1960s, then coached under Fry at Iowa and Lou Holtz at Notre Dame.

“I learned a lot from Hayden,” Alvarez said, referring to the Iowa years, which included Bob Stoops as a Hawkeye safety. “Hayden was just a wise person. He knew football. He was quirky, people see him as loosie goosy, but I learned his day-to-day operation was excellent.

“I didn’t particularly agree with his football philosophy, but how he operated his program, handled his coaches, set up his recruiting. … Bill Snyder, that’s where Bill’s foundation is from, Hayden.”

In the final Badger game without Alvarez’s fingerprints, Nov. 25, 1989, Wisconsin finished off a dismal season by losing 31-3 to Michigan State, in front of an announced crowd of 29,776. Alvarez estimates the actual attendance at maybe 15,000.

In the decades since, of course, Camp Randall Stadium has become a college football cathedral, with Badger fans routinely filling its 80,321 seats.

Before Alvarez’s arrival, the Badgers had been 9-36 the previous four seasons. Between the stunning Rose Bowl season of 1962 and Alvarez’s arrival, Wisconsin had seven winning seasons. The Badgers’ Big Ten record during that span: 74-134-6.

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Wisconsin was a sleepy Big Ten program, indistinguishable from Minnesota or Purdue or Illinois or all the others chasing Ohio State and Michigan.

But at his introductory press conference all those years ago, Alvarez vowed to build a wall around Wisconsin and keep all the best prospects in-state. Those prospects were mostly big linemen, and Alvarez’s wall stood firm.

Since Alvarez’s arrival, 37 Wisconsin offensive linemen have made the National Football League. Twenty-five of those 37 played high school football in Wisconsin, including all-pros Joe Thomas, Travis Frederick and Ryan Ramczyk.

Alvarez’s first hirings were phenomenal. Young, sharp, recruiting-savvy. A textbook case on how to build a program. Alvarez’s early assistants included Bret Bielema, who succeeded Alvaraz as head coach, was wildly successful and now has Illinois winning; Bill Callahan, who later coached the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl and became Nebraska’s head coach; Dan McCarney, who became head coach at Iowa State and remains the Cyclones’ all-time leader in coaching victories; and Brad Childress, eventual head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

That staff recruited a class that 2½ years later upset Ohio State (quarterbacked by Kirk Herbstreit) and a year after that reached the Rose Bowl.

Alvarez’s Wisconsin record was 118-75-4 (counting an 11-22 start), then the Alvarez foundation continued with Bielema (68-24 from 2006-12), Gary Andersen (19-7, 2013-14) and Chryst.

Luke Fickell, hired away from Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, is the first non-Alvarez hire as head coach since Alvarez himself. But Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh was an Alvarez offensive tackle — of course he was — in the late 1990s, and Alvarez endorses McIntosh’s selection of Fickell.

“The university and the football program are really important to him,” Alvarez said of McIntosh. “I think he knows the values we’ve established and how we’ve built the program. I think he understands what you can do and can’t do.

“His first hire was an excellent one. (Fickell) will understand the Big Ten and adapt to Wisconsin very quickly.”

Fickell plans to be involved in the Badgers’ bowl game on some level, though Leonhard will remain interim head coach against OSU. And Fickell knows exactly what kind of job he has taken. A job forged by Alvarez.

"I kind of mentioned to some people that I used to not like Coach Alvarez because obviously he was a competitor, and they were tough," Fickell said the day he was hired. “When I got into coaching and the two times I got to meet him, I realized, 'I know why I don't like him ... because we're very similar.'

“My opinion as a player was that every game that we had with them was a tough, physical game … the environment and the culture I know of this place has been phenomenal — from what I've seen from the outside looking in, regardless of who's been the head coach.

"My objective is not to change that. My objective is to try and find ways to grow it and enhance it. … I wouldn't expect it to be much of any different or change in those ways of it being the tough, hard-nosed kind of guys that have made this place special."

Wisconsin is a football place made special by Barry Alvarez, who came to Madison with a plan, and 33 years later, the plan still works.

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NFL picks: Weather thou goest...

Bad-weather football is fun. As long as you’re not on the field or sitting in the stands.

The frozen tundra in Green Bay? The snow in Buffalo? The see-your-breath in Cincinnati? It’s a blast to watch.

Which means this Christmas weekend should be fabulous for the National Football League. Eleven games on Christmas Eve (Saturday), three more on Christmas Day (Sunday), plus the usual Thursday night and Monday night games.

And despite a coast-to-coast league, plus assorted dome stadiums, bitter weather figures to afflict at least eight NFL games this week. Including a couple of games south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

It should make for some fascinating football as America hunkers down to celebrate Christmas and avoid the cold.

Here are the predictions:

Jaguars at Jetropolitans: Jacksonville 23-14. Good fortune for the Jags; the cold front isn’t hitting until after tonight, so kickoff temperatures are about 45 degrees, though with wind and rain. Good fortune for Amazon; the ultimate throw-away game when the schedule came out last spring now has major playoff implications.

Bills at Bears: Buffalo 21-18. Sorry, Bears. Most visiting teams would cower at five-degree weather with 22 mile-per-hour winds. But that’s just another day at the office for the Bills.

Saints at Browns: Cleveland 20-13. Classic case of a dome (and southern) team going north late in the season. Kickoff temperature on Lake Erie is forecasted to be 7 degrees.

Texans at Titans: Tennessee 17-10. Nashville isn’t north, but the kickoff forecast is 11 degrees. That’s bad news for Houston, but it’s not exactly great news for the Titans, either. They’re not accustomed to such cold.

Seahawks at Chiefs: Kansas City 31-21. Seven degrees and sunny at Arrowhead Stadium. The Seahawks don’t know much about either the cold or the sun.

Giants at Vikings: Minnesota 23-17. Wonder if anyone in Minnesota misses old Metropolitan Stadium? The high Saturday in Minneapolis is four degrees, but the Vikes and G-Men will be nice and toasty inside U.S. Bank Stadium.

Bengals at Patriots: Cincinnati 24-17. Again, north staying north, so who cares how cold it is? And if you’re going to lateral like a loonbird, who cares about the weather?

Lions at Panthers: Detroit 27-13. Even in Charlotte, it’s going to be 21 degrees. This is a cold wave, I’m telling you.

Falcons at Ravens: Baltimore 16-12. Can the Falcons move the ball in 14-degree weather? Can the Falcons move at all in 14-degree weather?

Commanders at 49ers: San Francisco 24-10. Meanwhile, out on the West Coast, it’s supposed to be 58 and partly cloudy.

Eagles at Cowboys: Dallas 24-15. Philadelphia’s magic number for winning the division is one — one Eagle win or one Dallas loss. So the Eagles won’t sweat this one, playing without Jalen Hurts.

Raiders at Steelers: Pittsburgh 20-12. Each team is 6-8, but Las Vegas has a much better chance at making the playoffs by winning out. However, to win out, the Raiders must win in Pittsburgh, where the forecast for the Saturday night kickoff is 10 degrees. Long way from the desert.

Packers at Dolphins: Miami 28-19. Miami played well in the Buffalo cold last week, so the Dolphins have done their duty. And you know the weather is miserable when the kickoff temperature in Miami is down to 50 degrees.

Broncos at Rams: Los Angeles 25-20. Great weather is wasted on two bad teams.

Buccaneers at Cardinals: Tampa Bay 23-10. The Bucs get Arizona’s third-team quarterback, Trace McSorley. That’s better than any weather break.

Chargers at Colts: Los Angeles 27-10. Indy is turning to Nick Foles at quarterback, but I assume it doesn’t matter.

Last week: 11-5. Season: 122-87-2.

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Bowl predictions: OU & OSU to lose

These days, with coaching changes and transfer portal madness, bowl games are almost impossible to predict.

The OSU-Wisconsin Guaranteed Rate Bowl, for example.

Each team has lost its quarterback — the Cowboys’ Spencer Sanders is headed somewhere, the Badgers’ Graham Mertz is bound for Florida.

And while coaching-staff rumors swirl around Stillwater, the Cowboys at least have stability at the top, with Mike Gundy. Wisconsin is playing for an interim coach, Jim Leonhard, who replaced the fired Paul Chryst in October and wanted the job full-time but didn’t get it. Instead, Wisconsin has hired Luke Fickell from Cincinnati, and Fickell will be involved to some degree with the Badgers in Phoenix.

Talk about a mess.

So just about anything is possible for the OSU-Wisconsin game.

But the OU-Florida State Cheez-It Bowl has some clarity.

The Seminoles seem the likely winner. Starting with this. Florida State has played much better this season. The Seminoles beat Louisiana State to open the year, withstood a three-game losing streak to Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Clemson, and finished 9-3.

OU stumbled to a 6-6 season, 3-6 in the Big 12. The Sooners’ best win? Bedlam, I suppose. It’s not like Florida State beat a murderer’s row, but conquering LSU is laudable.

The Seminoles also figure to be more motivated. They’ve endured few defections to the transfer portal or the NFL Draft, while OU has had both. The Sooners’ big losses were the guys turning pro — offensive tackles Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris, tailback Eric Gray, defensive end Jalen Redmond — and while that doesn’t suggest a culture problem, it doesn’t help fortify the roster in Orlando.

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Florida State has more motivation to be fired up for this bowl. The Seminoles are coming off four straight losing seasons; they have a chance at a 10-win season. Are the Sooners motivated to avoid a losing season? Who knows?

Add it all up, and this looks like a Florida State victory.

And I’m going with Wisconsin because of OSU’s rash of portal defections.

Here are the predictions:

Cheez-It Bowl: OU vs. Florida State. Seminoles 41-21. The Sooners lost to Florida State 36-19 in the 1964 Gator Bowl and haven’t lost to the Seminoles since. OU is 3-0 in the regular season, plus three Orange Bowl victories.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: OSU vs. Wisconsin. Badgers 20-16. Crazy how seldom the Cowboys play a Big Ten opponent. OSU never has played Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Northwestern or Michigan State. The Cowboys have played Iowa twice (1923 and 1930), Indiana twice (1930 and the 2007 Insight Bowl), Michigan twice (1926 and 1992), Ohio State twice (1989 and the 2004 Alamo Bowl), Purdue twice (1997 Alamo Bowl and 2012 Heart of Dallas Bowl), and Minnesota twice (1927 and 1931). So since the Herbert Hoover Administration, OSU has had two regular-season games against Big Ten opponents.

Fiesta Bowl: Texas Christian vs. Michigan. Wolverines 27-24. The Big 12 remains winless in the four-team College Football Playoff. TCU, you’re carrying the conference hopes.

Sugar Bowl: Kansas State vs. Alabama. Crimson Tide 31-10. Ouch. It looks like Bama is taking this game seriously, with the likes of Bryce Young and Will Anderson suiting up.

Alamo Bowl: Texas vs. Washington. Huskies 36-26. The Steve Sarkisian Bowl. Sark coached the Huskies from 2009-13.

Texas Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss. Rebels 33-28. From Houston, it’s closer to Lubbock (516 miles) than to Oxford, Mississippi (615 miles), but it at least made me look.

Liberty Bowl: Kansas vs. Arkansas. Jayhawks 44-41. KU wishes this was Missouri, but the Razorbacks will do in a pinch as the Jayhawks get back in the bowl business.

Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor vs. Air Force. Bears 21-20. The Bears drew the short straw, having to prepare for the Academy option offense.

Peach Bowl: Georgia vs. Ohio State. Bulldogs 29-14. What if the Buckeyes just aren’t that good? That’s the message they’ve been sending most of the year.

Orange Bowl: Tennessee vs. Clemson. Tigers 24-20. The Volunteers would be favored with quarterback Hendon Hooker. But he’s injured, and Clemson has found a QB in freshman Cade Klubnik.

Citrus Bowl: Louisiana State vs. Purdue. Tigers 30-17. Boilermaker quarterback Aidan O’Connell is skipping the game. That’s huge.

Gator Bowl: South Carolina vs. Notre Dame. Gamecocks 42-24. Spencer Rattler carved up Tennessee and Clemson. Why wouldn’t he carve up the Fighting Irish?

Music City Bowl: Kentucky vs. Iowa. Wildcats 12-7. First team to 10 wins.

ReliaQuest Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Illinois. Illini 18-16. Lots of tributes to Mike Leach will be involved as the Zach Arnett era begins for the Bulldogs.

Gasparilla Bowl: Missouri vs. Wake Forest. Tigers 31-28. Wake quarterback Sam Hartman is either transferring or headed to the NFL Draft, but he is sticking around for the bowl. Good for him.

Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. Utah. Utes 31-24. Second straight year Utah makes it to Pasadena.

Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota vs. Syracuse. Gophers 25-21. Dream matchup for Yankee Stadium. The Orange comes from upstate New York to play a Big Ten team.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Maryland vs. North Carolina State. Terrapins 31-30. Both coaches have agreed that the winner will be swamped with mayonnaise. It’s enough to make you wish we could have a tie.

Rose Bowl: Southern Cal vs. Tulane. Green Wave 28-25. Tulane coach Willie Fritz dang near beat Lincoln Riley to open the 2021 season when Riley was at OU.

Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. North Carolina. Ducks 38-28. Oregon is riding a wave off signing day.

Sun Bowl: UCLA vs. Pittsburgh. Bruins 33-17. UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is mum on whether he’ll play in El Paso. But Pitt quarterback Kedon Slovis is clear — he's in the portal and gone.

Military Bowl: Duke vs. Central Florida. Blue Devils 28-24. Not a great year for 9-4 UCF heading into the Big 12.

Independence Bowl: Houston vs. Louisiana-Lafayette. Ragin’ Cajuns 27-26. Even worse year for 7-5 Houston heading into the Big 12.

First Responder Bowl: Memphis vs. Utah State. Tigers 31-27. Two straight Memphis games in Dallas’ Gerald Ford Stadium. The Tigers finished the regular season there against Southern Methodist and now play a bowl game on the SMU campus.

Birmingham Bowl: East Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina. Pirates 35-25. Coastal has lost its coach, Jeremy Chatwell, to Liberty, but not its quarterback, Grayson McCall, who has entered the transfer portal but is expected to play.

Arizona Bowl: Wyoming vs. Ohio. Bobcats 24-20. As good a pick as any for the worst bowl attendance of the year.

Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State vs. Middle Tennessee. Blue Raiders 25-20. I still remember Middle Tennessee throttling Miami earlier in the season.

Camellia Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo. Eagles 29-17. Class act Clay Helton, fired by Southern Cal, is coaching Southern.

Quick Lane Bowl: Bowling Green vs. New Mexico State. Falcons 35-15. New Mexico State is unbeaten in bowl games. Not that the Aggies have played in that many (4-0-1).

Last week: 8-4. Season: 504-205.

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The List: Thunder series records

The Thunder beat Portland 101-98 Wednesday night to complete a two-game sweep this week of the Trail Blazers. It got me to thinking.

Which franchises have had the most success against the Thunder? The least success? Here are the head-to-head records of the Thunder against each NBA team since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, ranked by Thunder success:

1. 76ers 20-7, .741

2. Knickerbockers 20-8, .714

3. Hornets 18-8, .692

4. Magic 20-9, .690

5. Pistons 19-10, .655

6. Netropolitans 17-9, .654

7. Kings 33-19, .635

8. Suns 31-18, .633

9. Timberwolves 36-21, .632

10. Pelicans 31-19, .620

11. Raptors 17-11, .607

12. Jazz 35-24, .593

13. Hawks 16-11, .593

14. Bulls 17-12, .586

15. Wizards 16-12, .571

16. Mavericks 35-28, .556

17. Clippers 31-27, .537

18. Lakers 32-28, .533

19. TrailBlazers 32-28, .533

20. Grizzlies 38-35, .521

21. Celtics 14-15, .483

22. Bucks 14-15, .483

23. Nuggets 28-31, .475

24. Rockets 29-33, .468

25. Spurs 33-38, .465

26. Warriors 25-30, .455

27. Heat 15-19, .441

28. Cavaliers 12-16, .429

29. Pacers 12-16, .429

These results include the playoffs.

Surprised that the Thunder’s most and least success have come against Eastern Conference teams? You shouldn’t be. Over 15 years, results tend to even out, and since the Thunder plays West teams much more often, those results naturally migrate toward the middle.

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Mailbag: OU basketball arena

Talk of a new OU basketball arena has every Sooner thinking of solutions.

Jim: “Crazy thought, but what do you think about basketball back in the (OU) Field House? You probably were there in the Alvan Adams days. Won’t happen for lots of reasons, but the Field House could rock (Hendrix played there), things to do with places to eat nearby.  Fewer tickets, few empty seats. Could that get fans excited about OU hoops? Or am I reminiscing about my youth too much?”

Tramel: You’re reminiscing about your youth too much.

It’s a cool idea. It would appeal to all of us from a certain era. I indeed watched basketball games and wresting meets at the Field House when I was a kid. The OU Field House opened in 1928 and was home to Sooner hoops and wrestling until 1975.

Over the last two decades, some renovations have updated the Field House, and it’s a cool place. Home to OU volleyball, wrestling and men’s gymnastics. The place still rocks, as it did for Bedlam wrestling just two weeks ago.

But it’s a non-starter for basketball. Kelvin Sampson moved an exhibition game to the Field House. Lon Kruger played a real game there. Neither event created a buzz.

The Field House has nostalgia, but it has none of the other things you need. Parking is limited. Fan amenities are non-existent. Fan comfort is nowhere to be found.

A massive remodel of the Field House probably is possible but wouldn’t produce something as good as Lloyd Noble Center, other than atmosphere, and would cost a ton.

Moving back to the Field House gives us all a Wonder Years feeling. But it’s not the fix OU needs.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Barry Alvarez built sleepy Wisconsin football into a national power