Wisconsin’s practice of recruiting unheralded or overlooked players, coaching them up through their redshirt and underclass seasons before letting them loose as upperclassmen can only make the team so good. Higher talent teams are simply able to run up, over, and around the Badgers no matter how well disciplined or coached they are. Based on past performance, it’s reasonable to ask if Badger football has peaked? The “Wisconsin Way” produces consistent, winning football, but is it fair to expect further improvement without changes of some kind?

Given all this, Bret Bielema’s departure may have come at the right time. Despite the upheaval caused by his move to Fayetteville and the scattering of most of the staff during the ensuing coaching search, bringing in a new head coach and like minded assistants from outside Madison - outside the Alvarez coaching tree - may be best for the long term growth of Badger football.

Gary Andersen comes to the program as an experienced head football coach with a proven track record. In a story that parallels Alvarez's rise at Wisconsin, Andersen took Utah State from being one of the worst programs in the FBS to having the best season in school history in four short years. His experience allows him to rely on his own experience and identity in a way that his predecessor never could as a coordinator promoted from within. Rather than being next in succession in the Alvarez dynasty, Andersen comes in with his own worldview and methodology to sustain a winner.

Gary Andersen’s personality and career perspective seem well matched to the idiosyncrasies of the Wisconsin job. Wisconsin is one of the few jobs in the country where the athletic director has firm beliefs about what the football team should look like.

Alvarez has not been shy in sharing them either. During the hiring process he made it clear he would not hire someone who would “go five wide” running an air raid style of football. Given his history with the program, Barry’s philosophies have trickled down to the fanbase that’s fearful of a “spread guy” getting away from what made Badger football great.

Andersen has made it a point since he was hired to praise the resources he’s been given to “compete at the highest level”. He’s gone out of his way to praise Wisconsin’s past success running power football and promises to make extensive use of tight ends and fullbacks. To steal a line from the headlines Andersen has lead a “charm offensive” to allay concerns that massive changes are coming to Madison. While the core will stay the same, it’s unlikely that the offense won’t undergo some modifications in 2013.

Andersen’s offenses at Utah State were traditional spread option teams heavily reliant upon a mobile, athletic quarterback. Looking further back at his time as an assistant, he was no doubt influenced by successful Utah teams he was a part of where mobile quarterbacks were a staple of the offense – offenses run by Wisconsin’s current offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig. In his introductory press conference, Andersen has made more than one reference to having a “touch of option” in his offense and promises the extensive use of multiple formations. Wisconsin’s offense will be more multi-faceted that its been in the past.

A complete rework of the offense isn't practical in year 1 as Andersen needs to build credibility with the administration and instill confidence in the fan base before tweaking the bedrock of Badger football. Radical change will come on the defensive side of the ball. Aside from the well publicized shift from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense, the entire defensive philosophy will undergo a transformation.

Over 20 years fans had grown accustomed to seeing the Badger secondary playing soft one coverages well of the receiver at the line of scrimmage. The danger of a big play was mitigated by allowing a defense to make short plays underneath the coverage. Under the new regime an attacking defense with corners playing tight man coverage will look to disrupt offenses and cause mistakes that force turnovers and negative plays.

Changes in defensive philosophies or formations will not cause great consternation so long as the group performs reasonably well. To a fan base a sack is largely a sack, a turnover a turnover. No one really cares how many down linemen were in on a given play; results will speak for themselves. If changes can be successfully implemented on defense, more drastic changes on offense are an easier sell.