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Cover Story

ROAD TRIP
Barry Alvarez's dedication to learn the coaching profession has paved the road for his journey to become a head coach.

By Scott Kraft

If you liked this article, here are three others just like it: 1. The (Phil) Fulmer Way, October 1999 2. Bob Stoops, All in the Family, August 1999 3. Bobby (Bowden) and the Boys, September 1999

During his formative years as a high school coach, Barry Alvarez religiously studied the game while absorbing knowledge from a variety of sources. One spring, he decided to prove he was willing to go the extra mile (or miles in this case) to learn everything he could about the X’s and O’s of football. So he piled into his car with one of his coaching buddies (a former college teammate at Nebraska) and they toured multiple college football programs and campuses. Their first stop was North Texas State where Hayden Fry was intelligently innovativing his passing game. From there, they drove to Norman, Okla. and spent a day watching the Oklahoma Sooners practice. The final stop was Lawrence, Kan. and the University of Kansas for a coaching clinic.

“I really worked hard at football,’’ Alvarez recalled fondly. “Anything I could get my hands on to read, I’d read. Anyplace I could go where they were having a clinic, I’d go. Anything that I could learn, I’d try to learn.’’

At the time, Alvarez was running a high school program in Lexington, Neb., his first head coaching job. His traveling companion on his college tour was also a prep coach in Nebraska. At the time, Frank Solich was heading one of the state’s most successful programs, Lincoln Southeast. The gregarious Alvarez, a former Cornhuskers linebacker from Burgettstown, Pa., and the soft-spoken Solich, a former Cornhuskers fullback from Cleveland, Ohio, may have made for an odd couple back in the day (mid-70s). But they were united in their passion for the game, committed to success and intensely focused on one goal.

“I knew what I wanted to do,’’ Alvarez said with conviction. “I wanted to be a head coach at a Division I school.’’

The two friends have traveled a long distance from their spring barnstorming trip and early coaching apprenticeships. Today, with their ambition rewarded, they still reminisce on the phone on a regular basis after having put a signature mark on their very own college programs. The 55-year-old Alvarez is entering his 13th season at Wisconsin, while Solich, 58, is going into his fifth season at Nebraska. They have shared so much along the way it’s only fitting now that they share something else: Go Big Red.

Under Alvarez’s leadership, the Badgers have enjoyed an unparalleled run of success in Madison, Wis. The team’s success has drawn a great deal of attention to the Badger football program. In fact, the team has enjoyed an attendance of at least 70,000 people for 54 consecutive games at Camp Randall Stadium. Alvarez is the winningest coach in school history (84-55-4), overcoming a nightmarish 1-10 start in 1990. His teams have won or shared three Big Ten championships since 1993. He’s the only coach in conference history to win back-to-back Rose Bowls. His 6-1 record in bowl games, including a 3-0 record in Pasadena, is tied for second best all-time.

Only seven active college head coaches have a longer tenure at one school than Alvarez, who has no intentions of becoming a coaching lifer.” I don’t know when I’ll quit, but I don’t want to coach until I’m 70,’’ Alvarez said. “As long as I still get excited about spring practice, I still get excited about starting a new season, and I still get excited – and my blood starts to boil – when we take the field, there’s no reason to stop. As long as I have my health and enthusiasm for the game, and I’m doing a good job, I’ll continue to coach.’’

Where did it all start? Alvarez first thought about getting into the coaching profession during his freshman season at Nebraska where he played for Bob Devaney, who was building the foundation for what would be a legendary program in Lincoln. Alvarez was a wide-eyed 17-year-old linebacker from Western Pennsylvania. His Burgettstown high school coach was Pat McGraw (“Good, hard-nosed Irishman. Chewed tobacco. Tough as hell’’). Marty and Kurt Schottenheimer were products of this same coal-mining region. So was Bill Cowher.

“McGraw would always scrimmage us against bigger schools,’’ Alvarez remembered. “We showed up in sweat shirts, all our practice gear, and they’d come out of the locker room – some 100 strong – in full game uniforms. We all thought, ‘Holy mackerel, this was only suppose to be a scrimmage.’ But McGraw would just say, ‘Hey, they can only put 11 out there. It doesn’t make any difference how they’re dressed or how many they have.’ So we went out there and beat the hell out of them, beat’em good.’’

Alvarez lettered three years for the Cornhuskers, earning All-Big Eight honors as a senior. Although he was selected to participate in the Senior Bowl and the Blue-Gray game, he realized that his playing days were over. With this realization, he was more determined than ever to get started as a coach. Devaney opened the first door, knowing that he would get an honest day’s work from the overachieving Alvarez. “I always took pride as a player as being very smart,’’ he said. “I was never gifted with speed or anything else, but I could anticipate things and I really studied the game.’’

Alvarez worked two years as a graduate assistant on Devaney’s staff, which featured a wealth of top shelf assistants in Tom Osborne, Carl Selmer and Monte Kiffin, among others. Alvarez watched how they each went about their business and tried to establish his own philosophy on how he would run things if he had his own program. Of course, Devaney carried his own clout. “He was ahead of his time on how he practiced, how he went about things on a day-to-day basis,’’ Alvarez said. “More than anything else, he knew how to deal with people. I was always impressed with how he could fit in with whatever group he was with.”

“Devaney could be in some mining town with a bunch of coal miners and mill workers one night and the next night he’d be at a black tie affair with the wealthiest people in Detroit or Pittsburgh. And he would be the center of attention regardless of where he was.’’

Devaney wound up passing along some valuable advice to Alvarez, instructing him to set a timetable for becoming a college head coach before he reached the age of 42. “But I never looked at it that way,’’ Alvarez said. “I was a guy who always concentrated on the job that he had. Wherever I was I wanted to be the best coach I could be. That’s all I focused on. I was too single-minded to look beyond that.’’

Alvarez took his first paying job at Lincoln Northeast High School. He spent four years there as an assistant coach before landing his first head coaching position at Lexington, Kiffin’s hometown. Kiffin made some calls on behalf of Alvarez who was inheriting a tradition-rich program. Some people thought he was crazy for leaving Lincoln. At the top of this list was his wife Cindy. “She cried all the way back (from Lexington) when I told her we were going to take that job,’’ Alvarez said. “But I knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to be a head coach, and I was ready.’’

After fashioning a 16-4 record in two seasons at Lexington – he was named the Nebraska prep coach of the year in 1974 – Alvarez was ready for his next challenge. So when he got a phone call from the superintendent of schools in Mason City, Iowa – a big Cornhuskers alum – he had an offer that he couldn’t refuse. Most would have turned it down. “I probably shouldn’t have taken that job,’’ Alvarez said. “I wasn’t smart enough to ask the right questions or realize how bad it was. I just thought I could coach anybody and turn them into a winner. But when I got there it was a joke. Over 1,800 kids in the school and we had less than 30 out for football.’’

Despite the drawbacks, Alvarez rolled up his sleeves and went to work. While Cindy was selling hot dogs to raise money to send the assistant coaches to clinics, Barry was selling his players on how they were going to turn things around. It started with the construction of a weight room that was the envy of the college programs in Iowa City and Ames.

In 1978, his third season at Mason City, Alvarez won the Iowa Class 4A state championship. Shortly thereafter, he was approached by Hayden Fry who was Iowa’s new head coach, replacing Bob Commings. Fry liked Alvarez’s style and hired him to coach tight ends. The following season, Alvarez took over the linebackers and worked under defensive coordinator Bill Brashier. Fry’s offensive coordinator was Bill Snyder.

There was no shortage of ideas and Alvarez closely observed how everybody performed their roles. “Hayden was very organized,’’ Alvarez said. “It extended from the day-to-day meetings to the practice schedule. He was just meticulous in his organization and structure. Everybody on the staff had a clear-cut role. Everybody knew exactly what their responsibility was. There was no overstepping your boundary or stepping on toes.’’

The Hawkeyes went to six bowls, including two Rose Bowls, during Alvarez’s eight years in Iowa City. In 1987, he got a phone call from coach Lou Holtz at Notre Dame. Holtz was interested in having Alvarez come to South Bend to coach the linebackers. “I really had nowhere to go at Iowa – Brashier was the coordinator and I couldn’t move up,’’ Alvarez said. “Plus, Lou told me that he felt Foge Fazio was going to take another job or go to the NFL, and if he did, I’d have the first crack at the coordinator’s job. That’s all I wanted is a fair chance and an opportunity.’’

Alvarez got more than he bargained for at Notre Dame. In addition to taking over as the team’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, the Irish won the 1988 national championship. By now, Alvarez was a hot commodity. Several schools contacted him about head coaching vacancies. But he wasn’t ready to make the move yet. His second daughter, Stacy, had one more year of high school in South Bend and Alvarez was committed to staying until she graduated. (Likewise, he didn’t leave Iowa City until his oldest daughter Dawn had completed her schooling.)

“Lou Holtz probably had as much impact on me as anybody,’’ Alvarez said. “Devaney and Fry gave me a foundation and I took something from each of them. But Lou’s philosophy is very similar to mine in many areas – how you challenge players, and how you go about the daily things. I still call Lou today and he calls me. I feel very comfortable asking him any question. I think everybody needs someone to bounce things off. You need a different perspective. You need someone out of your arena, out of your day-to-day life, to take a look at it objectively and give you an answer.’’

After three seasons under Holtz’s wing, Alvarez pronounced himself ready for the next challenge. On Jan. 2, 1990, three days after his 42nd birthday, Alvarez became a Division I head coach, taking over a moribund Wisconsin program that rivaled Mason City for all the wrong reasons. But, once again, it didn’t take him long to produce a winner. In his fourth season, he had the Badgers in the Rose Bowl. When asked if it’s harder to win the first title or sustain success, Alvarez said, “Both are hard. This is a never-ending job. But it’s very difficult to take that first step.’’

And what advice would Alvarez offer to coaches seeking to take the next step? “It’s not about the X’s and O’s,’’ he said, “it’s about caring for the kids and motivating them. If a high school coach has a desire and vision to coach at the collegiate level, he has to take care of his job first and do a good job where he is. Do that, and you’ll get noticed.’’

Take his word. Or Solich’s.