Alvarez Addresses Media During Monday News Conference
October 29, 2001 | Football
Wisconsin head football coach Barry Alvarez spoke to the media on Monday during his weekly news conference. The news conference was in preparation for this weekend's game against Iowa.
Alvarez talked about the Hawkeyes, UW's quarterback situation and the Badger defense. A partial transcription of the news conference follows.
Did Iowa turn the corner last year' 'I think I was quoted after last year's game as saying I was impressed with the job [head coach] Kirk [Ferentz] had done. I know that first year [1999] he won one game, I think to the time they had played us [in 2000] they had won another game, a total of two games and they 're deep into his second season, yet he never lost his kids and they got better every week. I thought they really played well, I know talking to Nebraska early in [last] year they were impressed with how physical they were. We had to work extremely hard to beat them'I said then that I thought they were a good football team at that point and they went on and won some games down the stretch against some good teams. I felt they had definitely turned the corner even though their record didn't indicate that at that time.'
Thoughts on the development of Iowa's offense: 'They've got a lot of weapons and they had a lot of weapons last year. I think the quarterback has developed, I think he's gotten much better. They developed a tight end who was originally a walk-on defensive player, very athletic who has been very productive as the tight end. [Kahlil] Hill is a guy that when you look at him on the field you're just impressed with his ability and his skills and he's turned into a big play guy other than just on kickoff returns and punt returns. [Ladell] Betts has always been an outstanding back. Iowa had injury problems with its offensive line for two straight years, now they're mature, they're healthy, they 've stayed healthy. I think that probably has a lot to do with their offensive success.
What does the Iowa game mean for you' Specifically, the border implications and the fact you coached there: 'I just think any time that you have the proximity that we have with Iowa and the fans have such easy access to the stadium and there's always going to be a good contingent of Iowa fans here and vise versa it makes it a little more meaningful. Back in '90 when I came here with the Iowa ties'all of us had an Iowa background, basically started our careers at Iowa and spent a lot of time there, I think that added a little more to it, particularly back then, but that was, I guess 15 years ago that I coached there now. Because of the proximity it's still a good rivalry, I think our fans make it that way. '
How's Brooks Bollinger and have you ever had to use your fourth string QB' 'I think Brooks is getting better every day. I can 't remember ever going four deep, not by necessity any how.'
Thoughts on Brooks: 'I thought Brooks really was playing well; threw the ball very accurately, was smart about not taking unnecessary hits, just had good control and a good grasp of everything. It's been unfortunate, from the first injury in the first game. As soon as he gets a rhythm, then something happens to him. He 's been a tremendous leader and competitor for us. I'd like to see him back out there healthy and back into the groove. You don't trade him for anybody. He brings to the table what you're looking for at that position.'
What are quarterback Matt Schabert's strengths' 'Matt's very smart. He understands the game. To really study the game plan and prepare in one week and go out and perform as well as he did, getting in and out of plays and to show the composure that he did, I just really was impressed how he did that. I couldn't be more pleased with him. I think his strength is his head. '
Is that a testament to quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton' 'No question. Jeff had to get him ready. Jeff has done an excellent job since he 's been here with a lot of different situations. It's not easy to take a senior quarterback (Scott Kavanagh) and move a freshman (Bollinger) ahead of him like he had to do his first year here and still keep the relationship with that quarterback to keep him in the program and then to stay on and Scott's doing an excellent job coaching for us right now. For making that move and coaching a redshirt freshman (Bollinger) through a championship, handling the injuries and always having the next guy ready, Jeff's done an excellent job.'
What kind of guys do you need at free safety' 'You 'd like someone to play like [former Badger] Jason Doering did. You'd like someone who has a nose for the football, can help you in coverage particularly be a center fielder, can help you bracket receivers, yet in our scheme he's a run supporter, somebody that's going to stop run plays for less than five yards, yet has the range to do some other things.'
You've been converting corners to safeties. Do you give up something doing that and will you rethink it at all' 'We're taking a look at everything. At one point we always felt let's not recruit safeties, let's just recruit corners and move a corner back to safety because good corners are so hard to find. But we have to rethink that and really have to rethink size in general with the size of the receivers now. I think we have to take a good long look at that'Bigger is always better as long as they can run just as fast.'
What else can you do to help the defense' 'It 's really hard personnel wise. I sat before you this summer telling you how good I felt about the defensive line and how deep we were. Never would you anticipate going as thin as we've had to go there, there just aren't a lot of answers. You look at a roster and you look at people and how fast they were supposed to run and what they were supposed to do when they were recruited, but believe me if they could contribute they'd have been out there already because we've been trying to find players on special teams and everything else and some guys just aren't quite ready. We'll just go hard with the guys that can play and try and give them a scheme that they can execute.'
How does your team handle the `big play'' 'A lot of that is maturity and confidence. A mature team handles that. We 've had times where we've answered it. But those were times when we were healthy and we had some older guys on the field who were probably a little more confident and probably demonstrated that confidence and that's contagious. The thinner you get maybe the less confident you are. I tend to think a lot of that is having been through it before and understanding you just play the next play. Play as hard as you can; that 's all you focus on.'
