NEENAH, Wis. — Brian Butch was kind of in no man’s land which, and if you’ve ever played basketball, you understand.
But this was not just another game for the former All-Big Ten player at the University of Wisconsin. And the help he received to get into the right position came from a guy who knew far more about football than basketball.
“Coach always said it was about the athletes,’’ said Butch of Barry Alvarez. “That was his thing.”
Alvarez, whose remarkable 31-year run at Wisconsin as football coach and athletic director will come to an end June 30, will always be celebrated for the successes he found as both a coach and administrator in making Wisconsin a national brand.
Yet, for many of the athletes who spent their college days representing the Badgers, it was their relationship with Alvarez away from the athletic arena, and the lessons they learned within, that has meant as much or more to them than any final numbers on a scoreboard.
Butch had just wrapped up a 10-year professional career where he mostly played in the NBA’s D-League and overseas. He had dipped his toe in local radio, appeared as a regular guest with Mike Heller on his radio show in Madison, and on occasion teamed with Heller when he would fill in on the nationally syndicated Rich Eisen Show.
He had also watched former Badger Mike Kelly work as an analyst on the Big Ten Network, which piqued his interest.
“It was kind of, ‘What am I doing with this?’’’ said Butch. “Radio, you don’t make a lot of money. So, is this a career? Where am I going with this? What am I going to make of this?’’
Later, he ran into Chris McIntosh, UW’s deputy athletic director, at a UW event.
“He said, ‘Butchy, you’re doing all this stuff, but don’t be afraid to give coach (Alvarez) a call and see if he can help you at all,’’’ said Butch.
Butch felt a bit hesitant for, outside of a few appearances at UW-sponsored golf outings and other events, he had not been around the school for much of the previous decade while playing professionally. Nonetheless, he gave Alvarez a call.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to be down in Madison, coach, do you have some time?’’’ said Butch. “And he said, ‘Yes.’
“And so, I went in and talked to him, talked about what the thought process was and what I was going to try and do. We were in the meeting for about 10 minutes and he had (former Big Ten commissioner) Jim Delaney on the phone. Jim reached out to Alex (Bertsche, senior coordinating producer for live events at the Big Ten Network) and said, ‘Hey, can you get this guy an audition?’
“It didn’t mean I was going to get the job, but you have to get the audition. … So that’s how it really started.”
Since 2019, Butch has been both a game and studio analyst at BTN during the basketball season and has seen his workload increase. He continues to do local radio in Appleton and also does a three-hour daily show with former Packers fullback John Kuhn, based out of Milwaukee.
And for a guy who was accustomed to handing out assists, Butch is most thankful for the assist he received from Alvarez.
“I think that’s why the program has had so much success,’’ said Butch. “I truly believe it was because of coach’s vision; it’s about our student-athletes first. And I’m a great example; 10 years down the road when I’ve done really nothing for the university, to still meet, to still have those conversations, to still make a phone call, to still open those doors; I think it just kind of proves what coach was about.’’
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Mike Verstegen remembers that as a kid, he wasn’t able to watch the week’s University of Wisconsin football game until 10 p.m., because back in those days, late-night public television was the only place you could find the Badgers play.
“They weren’t really on the radar screen,’’ Verstegen, a native of Kimberly, said of the UW program.
Years later, he remembers a recruiting visit to Camp Randall, where the Badgers were hosting the Miami Hurricanes in a half-empty stadium.
“And the final score was 51-3,’’ said Verstegen. “And, I think, the chant was, ‘We scored first!’’’
And then there was the day when Alvarez showed up in his backyard.
“I still remember Barry coming into Kimberly High School,’’ he said, “with his tan, you know, he looked like a mafia member strolling the halls of Kimberly High School, with his trench coat on, and just his aura, his presence; he just commands a room.”
Like many in Alvarez’s first recruiting class, Verstegen simply bought what the man was selling.
“You put a lot of faith into what he said, and what they were going to do,’’ he said.
For those on the outside, going from 1-10 in Alvarez’s first year to the Rose Bowl in four years — the school’s first in 31 years — was an astonishingly – and quick – turnaround.
But that was the view from the outside.
“I think as players, it wasn’t a quick turnaround, especially the guys that were playing,’’ said Verstegen, the team’s starting left tackle. “I mean, we got beat up. We got beat up a lot so, that year we finally turned it around, that, I think we were ready; I think everyone was ready.
“It’s kind of like getting beat up in the schoolyard and finally it’s the time to stop taking a beating anymore. It might have been quick for everyone, but I don’t think the people that were involved in it, it wasn’t quick for us.”
It was during that four-year stretch where Verstegen said Alvarez’s influence took hold, and where he learned many lessons he still puts to use today.
“I think, as a male, I think you need another male role model in your life besides your father. He’s been an extreme role model in my life on just how to maybe live your life, demand excellence of yourself every single day, look yourself in the mirror every single day, hold other people accountable; that’s a good trait with coaching and my businesses here,’’ said Verstegen.
Verstegen, a partner in Vandenboom, Verstegen and High Wealth Management in Kimberly, has also been the offensive line coach at Kimberly High School during the football team’s seven WIAA state championships.
“Excellence and honesty; that’s just the way he communicates,’’ he said. “He’s meant a lot; meant a lot in my life.”
The honesty part came home to roost his redshirt freshman year during a team meeting.
“We were in the seminary, and the senior captains went up and kind of went off, might have been Don Davey,’’ said Verstegen. “Don was just going off and saying, ‘Any of you in this room who doesn’t think we can win all of our games …
“And then Barry, who was in the back, all of a sudden he started screaming at him. He said, ‘Just wait a minute here, we don’t have enough talent in this room to win all our games. We don’t have enough talent in this room and we have to be real. We’re not going to win all these games, and we’re going to struggle to win a game.’
“But that’s the honest and open communication, basically calling people out. That still sticks in my memory bank. ‘Holy crap, he just called out the captain of our football team.’
“Not sugar-coating things; it’s a valuable lesson to be taught. I think we sometimes get wrapped up in trying to protect people’s feelings when I think open and honest communication is essential for everyone and fair for everyone.”
While he has never had to seek out Alvarez for any assistance, he knows several former players who have.
“I know a lot of the former players, friends, have reached out to him,’’ he said. “Knock on wood here, I’ve been thankful in my life where I’ve never had to get to that point where I needed to reach out to him, but I know if I ever needed to he would be there. I know that several other players along the line have reached out to coach Alvarez and he’s been very, very supportive over the years to other players.’’
Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods@charter.com.