Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/232716
Wisconsin and helped the team to the Rose Bowl in Alvarez's fourth year. But Alvarez said the losing did take its toll on him. "I know one thing, I couldn't wait until that first season was over," Alvarez said in mid-December. "This is where I came up with the term 'Don't flinch.' There were times when after meetings with my staff, they would break off into individual meetings and I would go back into the office and curl up in the fetal position. "But you can't show any sign of weakness to your assistant coaches, your administrators or your fans. That is why you can't flinch because everyone is going to follow your lead. "Still, it was hard. I mean, you come into a new situation and you are used to winning and when you don't have the horses at first, it is really hard on you mentally." Malchow certainly never saw Alvarez flinch. "Barry is a very unique guy with a bigger-than-life personality and his gregarious nature got people to follow him," Malchow said. "Of course, getting to the Rose Bowl in Year 4 did help drive home the message that things were headed in the right direction, but the foundation was in place before that happened." Richter knew Alvarez was gathering momentum, but Pasadena? That was a pipe dream. The Badgers hadn't been to the Rose Bowl in 31 years. "We didn't know we were going to the Rose Bowl, that is for sure," Richter said. "In '93, we scheduled our final game of the season against Michigan State to be played in Tokyo because we hadn't been to a bowl game yet, and we thought the program needed the shot in the arm. Coaching Survivors Here are six high-profile current coaches who survived catastrophic early seasons at schools: Frank Beamer: 2-9 Virginia Tech (1987) Mack Brown: 1-10 Tulane (1985), North Carolina (1988) Kirk Ferentz 1-10 Iowa (1999) Al Golden: 1-11 Temple (2006) Paul Johnson: 2-10 Navy (2002) Greg Schiano: 2-9, 1-11 Rutgers (2001, 2002) Bill Snyder: 1-10 Kansas State (1989) f "Turns out, we clinched the Rose Bowl in Japan. My point is you may think you know things are going to work out, but you never really know until it happens." Ferentz stuck with the plan On the surface, Ferentz's rebuilding project in Iowa City seems to have more similarities to Hazell's in West Lafayette. First, Ferentz and Hazell seem to possess similar personalities; both being more reserved than Alvarez. Additionally, they seem to have similar philosophy that required some major changes when they took over their programs at the Big Ten level. "Kirk was a real departure from (predecessor) Hayden Fry," said Phil Haddy, who worked for both Iowa coaches during his 42 seasons in Iowa City as the program's sports information director. "When Ferentz took over in '99, he installed an entirely new way of doing things — very conservative system, no razzle dazzle. He was a 50-50 run guy who believed you won with defense and with a running attack. "He made a decision right away to build slowly from the ground up; he didn't want to bring in 10 to 15 junior college players. He was not a quick-fix kind of guy in recruiting or on the field." If you compare scores, Ferentz's 1-10 team in 1999 was lodged between Wisconsin's and Purdue's in terms of playing competitively. The Hawkeyes lost five of 11 games in 1999 by 20 points or more. But, as Purdue fans likely will always remember, one of Ferentz's early signature wins came in the 2000 season when the Hawkeyes upset Northwestern. Had Iowa not pulled the surprise, the Boilermakers likely would not have gone to the 2001 Rose Bowl. Yet, Ferentz's rise to "relevance" was one-year quicker than Alvarez's at Wisconsin. His third Hawkeye team defeated Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl. In Year 4, Iowa earned a share of the Big Ten title and played in the Orange Bowl. In fairness, the Hawkeyes were not nearly as down as the Badgers were when Alvarez took over, actually having a winning record (19-16) in Fry's last three seasons, though Fry's last team finished 3-8. "Still, the cupboard was pretty bare when Kirk started at Iowa, as Fry had not recruited well in his last few years," Haddy said. "Ferentz was able to add talent slowly but got enough difference-making players to get competitive on IllustrateD volume 24, issue 3 11