One month ago, Hayden Fry — the iconic former coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes — died at age 90. Fry assembled what many regard as the greatest football coaching tree of all time, most centrally embodied by his 1983 coaching staff at Iowa. That staff had Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz, Dan McCarney, and a guy you might know a little bit about, Barry Alvarez. That staff was full of high-quality major college football head coaches, but more than that, it had several coaches who completely rebuilt and transformed programs which had been mediocre at best, atrocious at worst, before their arrivals.
Hayden Fry made no secret about his desire to have assistant coaches who one day wanted to be head coaches. He had more than a vision: Fry possessed a strong architecture which developed complete coaches, men capable of being prepared for — and aware of — every aspect of coaching college football players.
It is no idle coincidence, no accident of history, that Alvarez was so thoroughly successful after learning under Fry’s guidance. It is no accident, either, that Alvarez has — in Fry’s mold — developed a similarly complete architecture at Wisconsin. Badger fans know this. They know that Alvarez, in addition to being a great coach, created a larger infrastructure in which the program — with a proven method and clear goals — could steadily replicate success.
This part of the Alvarez legacy continues to grow. It grows larger every time a Wisconsin assistant coach becomes a head coach. The latest assistant to make that jump is Dave Aranda, who became Baylor’s head coach on Thursday. Aranda’s ascent from Wisconsin to LSU to Baylor leads to an amazing fact noted by Dave Heller of Fox Sports Wisconsin:
If this occurs, it will mean only 2 #Badgers DCs since 2004 will have not been a head coach (*):
Jim Leonhard* 2017-
Justin Wilcox 2016
Dave Aranda* 2013-15
Chris Ash 2011-12
Charlie Partridge 2011-12
Dave Doeren 2008-10
Mike Hankwitz* 2006-07
Bret Bielema 2004-05 https://t.co/Mh0o7TvKAw— Dave Heller (@dave_heller) January 16, 2020
The credibility of Hayden Fry built the credibility of Barry Alvarez, which Pat Richter recognized. That built the credibility of Wisconsin football, which built the credibility of Wisconsin assistants, which has built a pipeline for Wisconsin assistants to get head coaching jobs… and not merely any coaching jobs, but Power Five coaching jobs, with Jim Leonhard getting his chance later in the 2020s, if he wants to pursue that path.
Wisconsin might still be searching for a first College Football Playoff berth, but make no mistake: The Badgers have developed one of the more significant and enduring programs in major college football. The coaching industry tells the story.