Together Apart: Budmayr has QBs thriving by improvising
June 01, 2020 | Football, Mike Lucas
Separated from teammates, Wisconsin quarterbacks have adapted to continue prep for 2020
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — In mid-February, Jon Budmayr experienced a life-changing moment when his wife Kaitlyn delivered the couple's first child, Sienna, on Valentine's Day.
A month later, the UW quarterbacks coach saw his professional life change when the campus closed and went to online instruction due to the coronavirus. A virtual world became a daily reality.
Through video conferencing, he has since been "home-schooling" his four boys — QBs Jack Coan, Graham Mertz, Chase Wolf and Danny Vanden Boom — while basking in the glow of fatherhood.
"It has been a unique situation for us," Budmayr conceded. "Obviously, it's kind of bittersweet with everything going on in the world and the sadness that has come through with this virus.
"But we've been fortunate in that we don't normally get this time at home in our profession, especially with a newborn. And we've taken advantage of it when we can.
"I didn't know what to expect going into it, but anything I could have pegged as an expectation (being a dad) has been exceeded. Oh, man, it has been unbelievable; the coolest thing in the world.
"It has been fun watching Kaitlyn be a mom and all the different experiences I've had being around Sienna. That first little smile or laugh. I don't take anything for granted being around for that."
Nor has Budmayr underplayed the importance of his teaching role as a coach in developing the quarterbacks from afar and getting them up to speed for their return to Madison and the 2020 season.
"It's a whole different animal," he said, "with the way that you're communicating and the different forms of communication, whether it's with our guys, coaches, or family."
A majority of the players, including the quarterbacks, left Madison in mid-March, necessitating instructional and communicative innovation at the risk of separation anxiety from normality.
"They've done an awesome job, they're so resilient," Budmayr said. "Early on, there was some natural fear and concern. They went on spring break thinking they were coming back for spring ball."
Budmayr was thinking the same thing.
"I was completely naïve to the situation," he admitted. "I was talking with Kaitlyn and she said, 'There's no way your guys are coming back.' This was about midway through spring break.
"I said, 'You're crazy. We've got practice on Sunday and we'll be back in the office.' Sure enough, the next day we got a message saying that we were out indefinitely."
The first thing that he did was run to the hardware store and buy a white board. He set it up in his basement and stacked a couple of chairs to make sure the iPad screen was aligned at proper height.
Budmayr has met with the quarterbacks virtually about three times a week.
"We'll do some white board conversations," he said. "Then we'll have meetings where we'll talk through different concepts, different coverages on the white board.
"In the follow-up meeting, we'll get on together and I'll share my screen and we'll watch cut-ups with them as if we were in our meeting room (at Camp Randall Stadium).
"Our video coordinator, John Schaefer, has done an unbelievable job getting us set up with all of our film. And he has made it as smooth as possible, so it's not too glitchy.
"The guys have enjoyed it and we've been able to make it work to this point."
Taking advantage of the available technology for video conferencing, the coaches have been meeting twice a week as a full staff and twice weekly as offensive and defensive staffs.
"Our offensive staff meetings are similar to what we would have been doing if we had been in the stadium. We've even been able to reassess some things we were thinking going into spring ball.
"We've really ended up buying ourselves some time, because usually when we're on the road (recruiting) it's a mad dash to the airports and the high schools and you're really not connecting.
"Now in talking schemes and stuff like that, we've been able to maximize those meetings in preparation for the fall, so it has been pretty good."
Budmayr, an ex-UW quarterback, is a relative newbie in the coaching profession. After apprenticing in quality control and as a graduate assistant (GA), he'll be entering his third year as a full-time assistant.
Despite not being in the same meeting rooms with his fellow coaches — with everyone working out of their homes — Budmayr has found the remote circumstances to be more unifying than dividing.
"In this profession, you're with each other so much of the time," he said. "All of a sudden, you get a week or two into this thing (physical distancing), and you think, 'Man, I miss jumping into the staff meeting with these guys.'
"Or you think, 'I miss going down the hall and poking my head into so-and-so's room whether to give him a hard time or ask him a question.' I kind of took this for granted a little bit.
"Through a lot of meetings we've had, you flip on the screen and it's good to see offensive staff faces. And then you turn on the staff meeting and there's the defensive staff and Coach (Paul) Chryst.
"I think we've grown closer as a staff. You appreciate the time you have with each other because these are such foreign circumstances, we're going through with not being able to be together."
Budmayr has been encouraged by the adaptability of the four quarterbacks the past two plus months. His position group is by far the most visible and critiqued, even during the offseason.
"We've had to find a way to create an edge and get better," he said. "And they've developed that mindset in how they've approached their workouts, their meetings."
Take, for example, the incumbent starter, Jack Coan, who will be a senior.
"Jack has a great setup back home in Long Island," Budmayr said of the Sayville, New York, native. "He has set up his laundry room to do all his schooling and film study and meetings with us.
"All the guys got some TRX resistance bands and he has some weights at home where he's been able to do some training stuff. Film-wise, he's got his iPad, so he's studying like crazy."
In 2019, Coan started all 14 games and paced the Big Ten in completion percentage (.701) during the regular season. Only Scott Tolzien (.729) and Russell Wilson (.728) have posted higher marks.
As far as his throwing, Budmayr said, "Jack has been grabbing different guys that he had played with in high school, whether they're back from college in a similar situation or they're not on a campus.
"For a couple of them who weren't playing anymore, it's like, "Hey, C'mon out and play catch like the good old days.'"
Budmayr usually sends the QBs home in May with a route menu and pass drops that he wants them to focus on, along with their throwing mechanics, before returning in June for the summer phase.
"More than anything, you want to make sure they're getting enough throws in," he said, "because everyone is going to be different with what they have (for receivers).
"Obviously, they don't have their (UW) tight ends and receivers to run the routes. So, I tell them, 'Work on these drops because you can do drops with anybody.'
"And if they've got a guy who can run a route, have him run it. If not, set up a cone out there and work around it and do some spot drills.
"You've got to be creative. If you've got a guy who can't run a 7-route (corner or flag route), put him at 27 yards on the sideline and throw it to him. That type of thing."
Mertz, Wolf and Vanden Boom have also reconnected with old high school receivers and friends, some of whom are playing in college programs, according to Budmayr.
The variable is location (Mertz is in Overland Park, Kansas), location (Wolf is in Loveland, Ohio), location (Vanden Boom is in Kimberly, Wisconsin). Each area has had a different COVID-19 response.
"With all of them," Budmayr said, "there have been certain times when gyms were open and then there were times when they were working through certain restrictions.
"They just have to be creative with it, 'OK, I've got to make this work.' The throwing has been what I anticipated because you don't know what's going to be open, from parks to guys to throw to.
"But they've done just a good job of improvising. I've been proud of them."
Budmayr noted the points of emphasis have stayed the same: This is the blueprint that everybody is navigating. But you're on your own. "And you have to take ownership of it," he stressed.
From his perspective they have done just that. "The coolest thing in my opinion," he added.
The coaches can facilitate certain things, Budmayr went on. But it still falls back on the individual to control the controllable during these challenging times when they're not on campus.
There's no question in his mind, either, that the players are itching to return.
"They've withstood it for a couple of months, now it's a 'Where is the light at the end of the tunnel' type of thing," he said. "They miss their teammates and they want to be back with them.
"It's a testament to the guys that we have that they want to be together so badly."
Until then, he's confident that they will continue to foster a virtual togetherness.
"The way they've been connecting with other guys on the team has just been phenomenal," he said. "They've really embraced what the situation is and connected through phone calls.
"It's calling someone on the other side of the ball or checking in with someone you don't talk to as often. Is your family OK? Are you doing all right? Hang in there. Let's get through this together.
"Some of these conversations can go a long way because it naturally brings you closer together. Ultimately that's going to be a difference-maker when we do get back together.
"There's going to be a bond that is pretty dang strong that has been forged through this."
