Alvarez Addresses Media Monday
November 18, 2002 | Football
Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez spoke to the media on Monday during UW's weekly news conference. Alvarez talked about the Badgers' upcoming final home game versus Minnesota and addressed various issues about the team.
A transcript of the news conference follows.
Opening Statement: 'Okay, let me first give you an update on Lee's (Evans) knee. He's had three different opinions to address the continued swelling that he has in the knee and consensus was that he would have the knee and the surgery redone, and so Dr. Ben Graf will redo the surgery this Friday at U.W. Hospital. As you would expect, Lee's very disappointed. The one thing about him, he's not discouraged, and I'm sure he'll fight and battle through this surgery just like rehab and through this surgery and as he did the last one, and I know there's a guarded optimism about total recovery of the knee. I guess your first question would be, will he come back and that's probably the last thing on our minds right now. Most importantly that the surgery is done well and that he has full recovery. We'll support him the best we can, but he can battle back'I think that's the general consensus that the recovery would be the same'he could have the same kind of recovery and get back to a hundred percent so he and his family after the surgery will decide what his future will be whether he'll come back or not so then I'll just go ahead and open up for any questions.'
Is there a feeling that Evans re-injured his knee during his recovery' 'You know what, no, I don't think he re-injured it. I just think there was some things that were causing the swelling'they thought that maybe with some rest [the swelling] would settle down. That's why he went to three different people for their opinions and the consensus was that it was not going to improve and that he would continue to have swelling and some irritation there, and they had to redo it again.'
Do you think Evans trying to come back too fast was a factor ' 'I don't think that had anything to do with this, and I think the doctors could tell you, but I think he followed the doctor's orders as far as his rehab. He didn't get ahead of anyone else. He was never hit or anything. He rehabbed then I think he had his full strength back within a month so I don't think that had anything to do with it. There was some abrasion there, and I don't want to get into it because I don't feel I'm an authority to talk about it.'
Have the doctors given him a time frame for a return ' 'I think it's the same time frame as his original one. I think they say approximately six months. Let me make it perfectly clear, we would welcome him back with open arms.'
What is the difference between the Rob Tucker situation and the others' 'I'm not going to get into the individual situations. I made my decision. I've made my statement. We as a staff spend a lot of time talking with our players, and we have made a reemphasis of doing that, and I felt it was necessary that I make it public that, that Rob Tucker was suspended from the team. I'm not going to get into each individual situation and discuss why I made my decision. '
Does the Rob Tucker situation change your view on your team ' 'No, it doesn't.'
What do you think about this year's senior class ' 'I think people know it's a very small class. I think they've given us as much leadership as they possibly can. Some of them were directly involved with the Rose Bowl, got out on the field with the Rose Bowl, a few of the guys have participated in that event twice. They understand the program. I think they've tried to talk about what the program's all about to our younger players. I think this is really, other than size, been a very good class. You'd like to have it be a bigger class and have the quality of some of the guys we have; unfortunately we don't.'
Do you think the younger guys understand the message from the seniors' 'I think that will be answered in the future; yet, I think it's important that they understand the history and what's been accomplished here and how we accomplished it, but I think that will be answered later.'
Will you coach Saturday's game as it were a playoff game' 'You know what, there's just so many things that ride on this game. You talk about a winning season, you talk about the ax, the longest ongoing rivalry in college football history, you talk about the senior's last game at Camp Randall, you talk about qualifying for a bowl game, there's just so many things that ride on it. It is a playoff. It's a one-game playoff game and all those things are there, and, you know, we've been in a position years ago where the last game didn't mean anything so it's nice to be this deep into the season. We're playing for something that's meaningful for everybody. Even more meaningful to some of them.'
Have you ever coached a player with a situation similar to Evans'' 'The only one I think I was involved with like that was Michael Stonebreaker. As I think, back, Michael had a bad car accident after the '88 season, could have gone out. It was the same type thing. It was a knee. I don't remember all of those situations, but it was similar. He could have gone out and chose to come back.'
How will you approach giving Evans advice on whether to stay ' 'I think it will all lay out. I think the most important thing right now is to have the surgery, have a successful surgery, let him rehabilitate, and then take a look at everything at that time, see where he is at that time.'
Are you optimistic that this surgery will clear up the problem' 'All I can tell you is that the doctors are optimistic, yes.'
Looking back, how important was it to qualify for a bowl in the 1997 season' 'You know just that experience in going to a bowl game, and I know I always think back, that was one of those years we won a lot of games in last minute of the game to qualify for a January 1st bowl game and then for those guys to experience that. Now, we played a good team. That Georgia team probably had as talented a team as anyone in the country, and we were beaten soundly, but I felt that really laid a foundation for us for the next two years and even longer for (Jamar) Fletcher and (Mike) Echols and, and all those guys on the offensive line. I just think they learned -- you learned a little bit, the more you experience, the better it is in the future, and I think it paid off in the future. It paid off in the next few years with the Rose Bowl wins. '
Would a bowl appearance this year be key for the program ' 'I don't think there's any question. I think the bowl, where guys know the experience go through it, they're both living someplace away from home for a week. You have to be able to mingle with the other -- with your opponent. I just think all that is good. It only pays dividends.'
Is the Minnesota game as big as any bowl game right now ' 'Well, it gives you an opportunity to play in that bowl game, and, you know, bowl games are important. I think they're more of a reward, but I think, I think this game's more important, absolutely.'
What do you think goes into the bowl selection process ' 'I think, and I said this before, I think you take a package. You take a team, you take your fans who are very important, the band is important, you take your name and the draw that your name has, and you know you look at these different bowls, their communities that open their arms to welcome families from around the country to come in; it's a tremendous experience, and you've all heard me say there are no bad bowls, and I've never heard of one. But maybe some are cold that day or cold that week or may be not the prettiest places in the world; yet, every one of them makes the players feel special and there isn't a player that's played bowl games that hasn't relished those experiences the rest of their lives. So that may not be that big a deal to some people. You know, you may not be interested in what's going on in this bowl or that bowl, but it's huge for the people that play it, and it's huge for the people who are putting it on. I forget what your question was'I'm getting like Bo [Ryan].
Did the young receiving corps have something to do with the low passing total on Saturday' 'Yeah, I think that is part of it, and their secondary probably had a lot to do with it too. I said that before. I was concerned about their secondary; that's a big, physical group, very talented, and we didn't get any mileage out of our passing game. That hurt us in that game because we had 'come from 14 back with five minutes into the game, on the road, on a cold ugly day against a very good team like that, had all the momentum just prior to the half and had the ball in your hands twice, in the end zone, in the first half, miss a chip shot field goal, so you're giving up points. To establish a rush of 200 yards against that team is pretty hard to do, but still didn't get anything out of the passing game. That hurt us severely in that game.'
Have you seen the Jonathan Orr play in the end zone on tape ' 'Just watched it again. It was Pat Richter and Matt stopped up in and we pulled out the thing to look at it and the official was pointing that he was out of bounds. He was six feet in bounds. We saw -- the ball stayed on his body for a long time with the official pointing out of bounds. It looked like the ball rolled out but I'm just telling you what I asked the referee. Did he catch the ball' Was the ball stripped ' What happened and he came back and said he was out of bounds.'
Do you think Orr was interfered with' 'Yes. The guy didn't play the ball. It hit him on the hip and had his arm before the ball got there. It's clear to see.'
What do you think about Minnesota' 'I think Minnesota is a good football team. Unfortunately they've played three top-10 teams in the last three games. But, they're a young team that's talented. The quarterback presents a lot of problems. They have two very good tailbacks. They've got a young offensive line that's very effective. They know their scheme real well. Other than these last three games, they have been able to run with the ball against everyone and move the ball against everybody. Defensively, again, up until these last few games, they've been very effective, and I think, if I'm not mistaken they are one of the leading defenses in the country up until the time they played those three top-10 opponents. So I think they're a very good team.'
What is Scott Campbell's injury situation ' 'He's got a hip flexor that bothered him. That may explain why, you know, I'm not going to make an excuse. You know he's got a hip flexor that bothered him last week. I hope he -- it gets better this week.'
Has the lack of receptions by the tight end corps hurt the passing game' 'Yeah, they have. I mean, they haven't been a factor. That's something when (Bob) Docherty was out early'there's some things you could do there for your intermediate routes, intermediate third down situation where you could pick up first downs and we haven't been able to go to that. That has been a factor.'
What do you think of your team's rush defense in the last few games' 'You know, other than'they had a long run where we tried to strip the ball on that last long run. I thought they did a pretty good job. I thought they did a pretty good job against the run -- just thinking back to Iowa -- I guess when we played Illinois, we didn't with Illinois. We didn't play very well against Illinois but against the run I thought this past week other than that one long run, we could tag along pretty well.'
What do you think of your rush defense on the season ' 'I think we've been solid. I think we've been a lot better, and I think, but I think we've been solid against them. We've done a lot better than that.'
Is there a different feeling trying to win back the ax rather than just keeping it' 'You know our seniors have never had to run across the field to get it. They've never been involved where Minnesota came and took it from them. So yeah, I think, I think there is a little different feeling here, and you know it's important. I think the ax is important. It's a part of college football. It's a part of history. It's part of tradition. We'll try to make the kids all aware of it.'
Is confidence the biggest reason behind B.J. Tucker 's improved play this season' 'I think, you know, confidence is a factor in that position because if you don't have confidence, you don't have a chance, and I can't say that he's ever had a lot of confidence up until this year. I think technique is also a factor. He's playing pretty good technique also.'
Do you tribute his confidence to Ron Cooper (defensive backs coach)' 'Well, I think Ron's approach and then having some success early always has something to do with that. I think Ron has prompted in his head that as a defensive back you better have amnesia. If somebody beats you, you better forget about it quickly and move on to play.'
Do you get satisfaction in seeing Tucker play well as a senior' 'I do because B.J. is a good young man, and he's been a good program guy, and it's good to see him finish up with a good, solid senior year. '
How will coaches handle players' emotions this weekend' 'I think you have to be careful and not make it bigger than life, but yet you have to make players understand that it is important, and there are a lot of things that they're playing for. I think it's always good when you make games special, and now it's there to really focus on the game and hopefully they'll play well.'
