Badger Bits: Bill Busch is Excited to Meet You

I kind of forgot who Bill Busch was until I saw Tom Mulhern's profile of him this weekend. In case you were wondering, he will be splitting coaching responsibility for the secondary with Ben Strickland while assisting Jay Boulware with special teams. Busch is another hire straight out of Utah State. He has Wisconsin ties too, having pitched in as a graduate assistant from 1993-1994 under Barry Alvarez. It sounds like he is excited to be back:

"I kind of hit the lottery," Busch said. "You kind of work your whole life, to be honest with you, it happens to maybe one percent of the coaches in the world, that get a chance to be a graduate assistant at such a great place, then come back as a full-time guy."

Busch appears to know what he is doing when it comes to defensive backs. Utah State's pass efficiency defense improved every year during his four years with the Aggies, culminating in a Top 10 season in 2012 (104.45 rating).

Wisconsin is still without a wide receivers coach. When, where and/or how Wisconsin is going to get one of those is still unclear. Here's what we have so far:

Gary Andersen -- Head coach
Andy Ludwig -- Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach
Dave Aranda -- Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach
Thomas Hammock -- Running backs coach/recruiting coordinator
Ben Strickland -- Secondary (cornerbacks)
T.J. Woods -- Offensive line
Chad Kauha'aha'a -- Defensive line
Jay Boulware -- Tight ends/special teams
Bill Busch -- Secondary (safeties)
???? -- Wide receivers

That makes two holdovers from Bielema's staff, and six coaches that have worked with Andersen previously, four of whom came directly from Utah State. That's a lot of familiarity, enough to cry "cronyism!" if things don't go well. There is no reason to expect to worst, however. None of the coaches have a resume that sticks out as lacking.

Enthusiasm seems present throughout the staff, and there is clear loyalty and affinity for Andersen. These guys have spent a lot of time together, and have a way of doing things that has so far been pretty darn successful. Busch again:

"Not to be arrogant enough to think there are things out there or challenges that are not being foreseen, that could always come up," Busch said. "But the biggest thing everyone will see from (Andersen) ... is that we have a plan. It's not one of those where it's like, 'Well, that sounds good.' We have an exact plan . ...

"If someone asks us, 'How do you handle this in the weight room?' That's how it's done. 'How about discipline?' It's done. Everyone knows exactly what's going to happen. 'How do Friday nights work before the game?' It's already done. ... All of those things have already been mapped out and time-tested through all of our time together. That puts you in a position to be ready to take over a program like this."

That all sounds very Grand Experiment-y, and we'll see whether it results in any noticeable change in Wisconsin football as we know it. The potential downside is that the plan doesn't translate to Big Ten football for whatever reason. The upside may be even greater, however. This has a chance to be a staff that will stick together for a long time even if Wisconsin has a lot of success in the coming years. It'd be nice to not have to worry about coaches being poached, for a change.

LINKS:

Frank Kaminsky is still out with an eye injury, with Michigan State coming to Madison on Tuesday.

Game recaps at OTE and BHGP both pay respects to Chris Streets.

Jeff Potrykus takes one last look.

Bizarre NCAA rule you never knew existed gets an update. Oh, and some bigger ones that may have large recruiting ramifications, too.

Contract approved for Gary Andersen, Andy Ludwig and Dave Aranda. Ludwig and Aranda are scheduled to make up to $480,000 next season.

"We-fense" sounds like a bootleg version of an awful video game. Turns out it's something that could actually help Wisconsin win football games next season.