clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Barry Alvarez on the Dan Patrick Show

Immediately following his press conference, Barry Alvarez went on the Dan Patrick show to discuss some of the decisions that he's had to make this week, as well as the ones he has to make going forward.

Mary Langenfeld-US PRESSWIRE

Immediately following his press conference, Wisconsin Director of Athletics and now interim football coach Barry Alvarez did an interview with The Dan Patrick Show.

When asked if this was a "one and done" in reference to coaching the Rose Bowl game for Wisconsin, Alvarez barely let Patrick finish the question before responding with an eager "Yes".

Originally, Alvarez’ plan was to have one of the assistant coaches step up and coach the upcoming Rose Bowl game. But before Barry was able to do that, he received phone calls from the team captains asking him if he would lead them for the upcoming game. His response was, "I can’t tell the kids no."

It’s safe to say that Alvarez had no idea that this was coming. Bielema did not tell him that he was taking the Arkansas job until noon on Tuesday, and when he was told, Alvarez described the news as "total shock." By the time he talked to Alvarez, Bielema had already accepted the new position.

In response to the Chris Petersen (head coach at Boise State) rumors, Alvarez said, "I haven’t talked to Chris Petersen, I always felt that he was pretty locked in at Boise."

There was a part of me that felt bad for Alvarez when Patrick asked about the relationship between him and Bielema and his response was, "Bret was like a son to me." While I know that you’re never supposed to become attached to your co-workers -- especially when you’re a boss -- but in seven years working with someone, a bond is going to be formed.

Alvarez also made it known that he would not be the coach for Wisconsin next year, and that him coming back to coach was only for the Rose Bowl. He was not in a hurry to find a replacement coach, but would ideally like to have one in place by Jan. 1.

The last thing that I took from his interview Patrick was when asked whether he would ever consider scheduling Arkansas on the schedule, Alvarez replied, "Yeah, I can't wait to play Arkansas."