Over the past few years, when the frustrations of a vocal segment of Oregon State fans would crescendo after a poor performance, and they would demand the defenestration of long-time good guy coach Mike Riley, more than a few Beavers fans as well as media types would question the exit strategy. As in: Who's going to come to Corvallis and do a better job? And if said coach is found, is he going to stick around?
Wisconsin's Gary Andersen is a pretty darn good answer. And, just like Riley bolting for Nebraska, no one saw this one coming.
Anderson is no sure thing. He has some notable warts on his résumé and hasn't won much of anything, other than a 2012 WAC title at Utah State before that football conference went under. But he's also won 30 games over the last three years and he's bolting a Big Ten power for Oregon State after just two years. So he wants to come to Corvallis and lead the Beavers, post-Riley. He wants to leave a state where he's the lead dog playing in an 80,000-seat stadium and, instead, square off as an underdog against a rich state rival that has become a national power.
Not to sound like a Pollyanna -- or, to be more new school, sound like Emmet Brickowski from the "Lego Movie" -- but this continues our theme of "Everything is awesome!" Everybody might just win with these two surprising coaching moves. Riley seems like a good fit for Nebraska after things were starting to seem a bit stale with him and the Beavers, and now Andersen, who has strong western roots, seems like a good fit for the Beavers.
Well, everybody wins other than Wisconsin, which has now seen its past two coaches bolt for jobs that didn't seem like promotions. After leading the Badgers to three consecutive Big Ten titles, Bret Bielema actively, though quietly, sold himself to Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long before leaving after the 2012 season. Anderson went 19-7 in two seasons with Wisconsin, winning the Big Ten's West Division this year, but he obviously didn't view Madison as a destination job.
Why would Andersen leave? Maybe he prefers the West Coast. Maybe he's concerned about the long-term power of the Big Ten compared to the Pac-12. Maybe he thinks Urban Meyer and Ohio State are on the cusp of Big Ten domination. Maybe he doesn't like Wisconsin's demanding academic standards. Maybe he thinks Wisconsin is cheap when it comes to anteing up salaries for assistant coaches.
Maybe he'll answer that question during a news conference Friday in Corvallis, though my guess is he's not going to be too forthright when it comes to kicking dirt on a program he left in the lurch.
Andersen has a long history as a Utah assistant coach and is good friends with Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham. He's a defensive specialist, and his coordinator at Wisconsin, Dave Aranda, is highly respected. That's good because the Beavers will be rebuilding their defense in 2015. His offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Andy Ludwig, however, has a mixed-bag history in the Pac-12, having coached at California, Oregon and Utah.
As for the warts on his résumé we previously referred to, you can start with his last game -- a 59-zip loss to Ohio State. That was such an atrocious showing there were conspiracy theories afterward that the Badgers threw the game so the Buckeyes could get into the College Football Playoff and boost the Big Ten. That's about as ridiculous as saying Pac-12 officials conspired to give Arizona State a victory over Andersen and the Badgers in 2013 through comedically bad late-game decisions.
The Badgers also blew a 17-point third-quarter lead at LSU to open the season and lost to a Northwestern team that fell to California and went 5-7 overall. In 2013, with a BCS bowl berth in sight, the Badgers were upset by Penn State on the season's final weekend.
That said, Andersen is the sort of respected hire that will generate some much-needed energy and optimism into the Beavers' program. It also helps that the athletic department announced a $42 million makeover of the Valley Football Center not long before word of Andersen's hiring broke. Ah, Pac-12 money doing its thing, boosting facilities and the top-to-bottom quality of conference coaching staffs.
Of course, Andersen has got to find a way to quickly close the Civil War gap. He's got to figure out a way to be more competitive with the Ducks. While Beavers fans probably won't expect a berth in the CFP in the next three years, they probably will demand a victory over Oregon in that span.
Still, after a period of stagnation under Riley and then the uncertainty of "Who's next?" Oregon State appears to be emerging into a hopeful place. For a team sitting home during the postseason as its rival eyeballs a national championship, that's about the best a fan base can expect.