Haven't posted on this site but saw some of my earlier comments got moved over from the brewerfan board.

I spoke with a current Badger player over the weekend and he expanded the quotes a bit from the media report that Bielema told the players to ignore the news around him leaving. He said Bielema called the team together before leaving for NY and made a speech about trusting the assistants, listening to them because they are a good group of coaches, focusing on them and the game and to ignore news reports about himself. Sounds more like a good by speech and that he knew he was leaving even prior to getting to NY. The player also added that after the news came out the speech made a lot more sense, focus on the game and coaches not BB leaving.

Another guy asked the player if half the team was happy BB was leaving because that was what he had heard. The player said no, not at all, they were surprised he was leaving but the only ones he knew that were glad were the few guys perpetually in the coach's doghouse.

I am quite worried about the future of this program. The contingent of people who constantly complained about BB and the program got their wish but I think a dose of reality is about to strike and strike hard. Wisconsin is not nearly the destination that some people in Madison seem to think it is. The grumbling that BB was running off all the assistants was a complete joke and not supported by any evidence. Everyone that left except the WR coach last year took a pay raise and a promotion. If guys left for pay cuts or demotions you could argue that but guys left for money or promotion. And we see with BB gone a couple are going with him.

Pay for assistants is an issue. Ash just got a raise to $550,000 to be the D coordinator, that is nearly double what he made at WI. The comment that WI and Arkansas spends the same amount on football in an earlier post may only include the money the University kicks in. Private money and donations is where the differences are. Same with facilities, many fans cite Camp Randall and the suites, etc. for facilities, forgetting that the differences are in the dorms, athlete weight rooms, cafeterias, study lounges, etc. WI has lagged many schools in these areas which some are getting a facelift now but still only to bring them up to middle of the road. Tickets and donations are thought to be expensive here but I know a couple years ago I compared the donations and tickets for all the B10 teams and WI was in the lower half and no where near the donations required by SEC schools or even Nebraska, Ohio State's etc.

Any new incoming coach has to look at the situation here as one where the guy leaving was ridiculed, disrespected and cheered for leaving by a vocal part of the fan base despite 3 straight Rose Bowls. I know if I was looking at going somewhere and the bar set at 3 straight Rose Bowls brought that attitude I would be leary of trying to satisfy that fanbase. Especially given that the school is not located in a recruiting hotbed nor boasting the greatest facilities and pay for assistants. WI can be a consistent top 25 team who occasionally puts it all together for a year and can be a top 5 team but the expectations here seem a bit high. I saw one blogger or article lamenting that WI was only around .500 vs. good teams, I wasn't surprised by that stat, and didn't think over time it would be much better than that.

I haven't seen much news on defections from recruits yet but with all the assistants leaving I gotta believe a number of the higher profile ones, especially the out of midwest guys will start bolting. The highly recruited safety out of L.A. was recruited by Buh, I can imagine Buh now as DC at Cal making a call and offering a good school closer to home as a new landing place. Same with the RB from NJ that Faulkner helped land.

If WI doesn't get a good head coach fast the assistant pickings will be slim, the recruits could leave and a program like WI isn't going to do well with 2 or 3 poor years in a row. The program can quickly sink in young player's eyes and we will be back to trolling MAC schools and bottom of the B10 for players resulting in more mediocrity. It is a hard and long process to try and regain prestige lost. Look at Nebraska after Osborne left, they've had some decent years but nowhere near the top like they once where. Even Iowa has been trending down as players lower their view of the program. The interesting thing about both schools, similarly to WI they have to rely on out of state kids and once that dries up they have had to dip lower and lower. If you think back to the 90' and early 2000' at Nebraska and Iowa recently both schools started taking chances with some kids with character issues who were talented as they tried to keep the recruiting up. That won't be tolerated in Madison as people can't stand the few character incident's we had under Bielema. Iowa fans are getting ansy with Ferentz and some of the arrests, team dismissals, etc. that have been coming out of Iowa City over the last 4 years, especially with the wins down.

WI is in a tough spot because they don't have the name cache like Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and even Penn State. A poster earlier mentioned Penn State last year would have beat WI if not for the news explosion around Sandusky and JoePa firing. I see that as a perfect example of over valuing PSU based on the name. That PSU team climbed the rankings beating the dregs of the B10 and then surviving the offensively challenged OSU last year. I'd have take WI to cover any spread on that game, because PSU lost to every good team they played except OSU who wasn't that good last year. Yet PSU beating Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, E. Michigan, Temple, Iowa, in a streak before losing to Nebraska resulted in them getting ranked 12th? If WI does that everyone calls them a paper tiger and questions the ranking unless they drill those teams by 5 touchdowns.

If you can't tell I'm pretty pessimistic about the situation right now. Everyday that passes and more coaches say no thanks and hideous names like Childress, Bevel, Rudolph are tossed around I get more worried.