In July 2005, Barry Alvarez announced he'd step down as Wisconsin's head coach at the end of the season and D-coordinator Bret Bielema would succeed him. During our Q and A's with Matt Lepay, the veteran voice of Wisconsin football, we asked about any pitfalls to be concerned about as FSU goes through its transition.
A potential problem with a head coach-in-waiting would be what the rest of staff will look like. Will Jimbo Fisher retain everyone and make that clear right away, or will he bring in new assistants? And how are some of those assistants handling the news? At Wisconsin, there were some hard feelings with some assistants because they knew Bielema was going to make some changes. It made for some uncomfortable days, but to their credit, the coaches were able to stick together, and they had a very good final season under Alvarez. Of course, the big difference in this case is we don’t know when Bobby Bowden will step down. Alvarez made it clear that 2005 was going to be his last year. I certainly don’t know Coach Fisher, but if I were him, I would give Barry a call and pick his brain about this type of transition. It probably would be wise to chat with Bret as well.
After the thrashing in Orlando and that tepid handshake at midfield I doubt Barry or Bret would be willing to give much advice to Jimbo.
Posted by: Bill From Tampa | December 31, 2008 at 03:23 PM