Is Wisconsin boring? Think again: The 5 strangest seasons I’ve covered on the beat

I used to be midway by means of taking my 2-year-old son for a stroller trip across the neighborhood on a Sunday night time in early October when my mobile phone buzzed. I picked up and heard the 5 phrases that modified the course of the Wisconsin soccer season.

Paul Chryst simply received fired. 

That was at 6:12 p.m. By 8 p.m., I used to be sitting in a room beneath Camp Randall Stadium as athletic director Chris McIntosh and interim coach Jim Leonhard addressed media members throughout a rapidly organized information convention. The remainder of that week — and, actually, the season — was a curler coaster for the gamers, this system and likewise the reporters making an attempt to cowl all of it.

I spent the following two months detailing not solely why McIntosh fired Chryst, however how gamers reacted to the information and rallied round Leonhard, Leonhard’s candidacy and, finally, McIntosh’s choice to rent Luke Fickell as a substitute. There was no scarcity of storylines and plot twists throughout some of the unpredictable seasons I’ve ever lined.

However was it the strangest of all of them? Properly, that received me pondering. Wisconsin is considered from the surface as a secure, usually boring, program, however there’s been extra bizarre issues occur than you may assume. What I’ve realized in 12 seasons chronicling the Badgers is that we typically don’t know what’s going to occur from yr to yr, regardless of how a lot we attempt to predict this stuff.

With that in thoughts, and impressed by a mailbag query from reader Ben R. (thanks, Ben), listed here are the 5 strangest Wisconsin seasons I’ve lined since my first season on the beat in 2011.

1. 2014 (Gary Andersen bows out)

If any yr might problem 2022, it must be Andersen’s second — and closing — season as Wisconsin’s head coach as a result of it was simply full of loopy stuff occurring the entire time. Preseason camp featured a quarterback competitors between Joel Stave and Tanner McEvoy. Andersen instructed reporters after a crew scrimmage two weeks earlier than the opener towards LSU that, “I believe you possibly can in all probability sit down and watch follow and see the route it’s headed.”

The factor is, reporters had watched follow up till that time and Stave appeared fairly clearly to be the higher quarterback possibility for Wisconsin. He actually was a greater passer. Andersen as a substitute selected McEvoy as a result of he needed a cellular menace.

McEvoy promptly accomplished 8-of-24 passes for 50 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in a loss to LSU — one of many worst passing performances by a Badgers quarterback you’ll see. Stave was so devastated by shedding the beginning job that he developed a psychological block that prevented him from finishing even fundamental throws. Andersen tried to defend Stave by releasing an announcement that stated Stave had a shoulder harm. He clarified later that day that Stave wasn’t injured and that it was “perhaps a nasty selection of phrases.” Stave then volunteered to speak to reporters that very same day to set the document straight in what I might contemplate to be essentially the most weird day I’ve ever lined.

A month later, Stave felt adequate to play towards Northwestern over an ineffective McEvoy. Stave not solely began the next week towards Illinois however helped lead Wisconsin to seven consecutive victories and a Large Ten West title.

I haven’t even talked about the odd Andersen-Melvin Gordon scenario after the opener. Gordon, who completed second within the Heisman Trophy voting that season, carried simply 4 occasions after halftime towards LSU. Andersen stated after the sport that he didn’t know why Gordon didn’t contact the ball extra. He clarified two days later that Gordon suffered a hip flexor harm, however Gordon stated he felt advantageous.

Lack of communication appeared to be a constant theme within the transient Andersen period. After that LSU recreation, Andersen urged Wisconsin’s large receivers struggled to regulate to LSU’s press protection with its extra bodily defensive backs, and broke off their routes, which triggered McEvoy to misfire. Broad receivers coach Chris Beatty vehemently defended his gamers, saying the receivers have been proper and didn’t break off any routes.

All of this led into Andersen leaving Wisconsin for Oregon State 4 days after an embarrassing 59-0 loss to Ohio State within the Large Ten Championship Sport. It was a surprising transfer however certainly one of a number of that got here to outline Andersen’s uncommon teaching profession. Andersen had been upset that some highschool recruits and junior faculty gamers couldn’t academically qualify at Wisconsin. Athletic director Barry Alvarez then took over as interim coach for a second time in two years. Alvarez employed Chryst from Pittsburgh, which seemed like a fairly good transfer for the following 5 seasons as he compiled a 52-16 document. After which got here 2022…

2. 2022 (Chryst fired, Leonhard promoted, Fickell employed)

I wrote after Wisconsin’s 34-10 loss at residence to Illinois on Oct. 1 that the efficiency “revealed a brand new all-time low within the Chryst period.” That efficiency represented the ultimate straw for McIntosh, who fired Chryst the following day.

The following eight weeks have been about whether or not Leonhard would be capable of earn the everlasting job. I assumed he carried out admirably in a very troublesome spot, going 4-3, serving to the Badgers change into bowl eligible for a twenty first consecutive season and garnering widespread help from gamers. I believe Leonhard would have made a advantageous head coach, and he clearly had a imaginative and prescient for the long run at Wisconsin that may’ve included some modifications to attempt to elevate this system. However McIntosh as a substitute went with a extra confirmed head teaching commodity in Fickell, who led Cincinnati to the Faculty Soccer Playoff throughout the 2021 season.

The ending to the season actually was unusual, with Fickell roaming the sidelines for the Assured Price Bowl in a figurehead capability whereas the earlier workers, together with Leonhard, coached the bowl recreation regardless of figuring out their time at Wisconsin was executed as quickly because the clock struck zero. However, ultimately, McIntosh pulled off what appears at this stage to be among the best head teaching hires of the offseason. In slightly over a month since Fickell’s hiring, he has introduced nice power to this system by including key items in recruiting and thru the switch portal and has positioned the Badgers effectively for his or her long-term future.

Bret Bielema left for Arkansas three days after the Large Ten title recreation. (Jonathan Daniel / Getty Pictures)

3. 2012 (Bret Bielema bolts)

Andersen making a weird transfer simply days after a Large Ten title recreation wasn’t even unique at Wisconsin. Three days after Wisconsin waxed Nebraska 70-31 to win the 2012 convention championship recreation, Bielema left for Arkansas, gorgeous the Badgers fan base in addition to Alvarez, who had employed Bielema as his hand-picked successor after the 2005 season.

The 2012 marketing campaign was undoubtedly uncommon. Switch quarterback Danny O’Brien was introduced in to exchange Russell Wilson however misplaced his beginning job to Stave, an in-state walk-on. Bielema fired offensive line coach Mike Markuson two video games into the season, following a 10-7 loss to Oregon State, and changed him with graduate assistant Bart Miller. That Wisconsin crew misplaced 5 regular-season video games, all by single digits, and completed third within the Large Ten Leaders Division — do not forget that identify? — but nonetheless certified for the league title recreation as a result of undefeated Ohio State and Penn State have been ineligible attributable to NCAA sanctions.

Then Wisconsin blew the doorways off of Nebraska, as offensive coordinator Matt Canada unleashed his full arsenal following a reported energy wrestle over the offense with Bielema, and the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl. Alvarez got here out of retirement on the request of the gamers to teach the crew in a 20-14 loss to Stanford.

4. 2020 (pandemic modifications season)

This whole season was odd due to the pandemic, first because the Large Ten eradicated nonconference video games in July, then canceled the season in August and introduced it again in September. Wisconsin and quarterback Graham Mertz seemed unimaginable within the season opener towards Illinois in an empty Camp Randall Stadium (save for some cardboard cutouts).

Then, Mertz was amongst a number of gamers to check constructive for COVID-19 — at one level there have been 27 lively instances in this system — which led to the cancellation of two video games. Wisconsin’s crew was by no means actually the identical. The Badgers managed to qualify for a bowl recreation with an extra time victory towards Minnesota after which beat Wake Forest within the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

From a reporting perspective, this was essentially the most difficult season to cowl as a result of all interviews have been understandably carried out in teams through Zoom, so it was troublesome to type relationships with gamers and coaches or to get many 1-on-1 exclusives. The one recreation I attended in individual was the opener as a result of interviews have been on Zoom — which you possibly can take part in at residence — so there actually wasn’t some extent to touring to video games and watching from excessive up in a press field.

Maybe it was solely becoming that, whereas celebrating within the locker room to shut the season, Mertz dropped the Duke’s Mayo Bowl trophy, which shattered on the ground. It was changed quickly with a bottle of Duke’s mayonnaise affixed to the deal with with purple tape. Unusual occasions, certainly.

5. 2018 (Excessive expectations fall flat)

Wisconsin was coming off a 13-1 season and an Orange Bowl victory in 2017. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook earned MVP honors after throwing for 258 yards and 4 touchdowns. With Hornibrook returning, in addition to three All-Individuals on the offensive line, Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathan Taylor at working again and a gifted large receiver group, this was a crew that was supposed to construct on success and problem for a Large Ten title. The Badgers earned all 28 first-place votes to win the West Division within the preseason media ballot. Heck, I wrote a narrative from Large Ten media days with this headline: Playoff or bust? Wisconsin not afraid to set lofty objectives for 2018.

However the season rapidly went off the rails. Standout large receiver Quintez Cephus took a depart of absence throughout fall camp after being knowledgeable that the Dane County District Lawyer’s Workplace deliberate to file sexual assault expenses towards him stemming from an April 2018 incident (Cephus could be expelled from faculty for violating the non-academic misconduct penalty after which acquitted a yr later of sexually assaulting two girls). Teammate Danny Davis was suspended for 2 video games for his involvement. On the sphere, Wisconsin struggled to regain its 2017 type.

Taylor dominated with 2,194 yards speeding and 16 touchdowns, however Hornibrook threw 9 interceptions over his final 4 video games, and the offensive line offered uneven go safety. Hornibrook handled concussion points that lingered and compelled backup Jack Coan into motion for 5 video games, which prevented him from taking a redshirt season.

Wisconsin completed the season with a victory within the Pinstripe Bowl however went 8-5 and misplaced to frame rival Minnesota for the primary time since 2003. Hornibrook by no means performed for Wisconsin once more after the Minnesota recreation, transferring to Florida State for his closing season. It was maybe Wisconsin’s most disappointing season prior to now 20 years given the expectations the crew carried.

(Picture of Gary Andersen and Joel Stave: Christian Petersen / Getty Pictures)