Oregon State learned something from the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They lost their long time head coach to the Huskers in the past week. It was a move that caught the entire college football world by surprise. So what do the Beavers do? They do the exact same thing the following week.
In a week that had many people throwing out the names like Scott Frost, Mike Norvell, Jeff Tedford, Jonathan Smith, and Justin Wilcox, the Beavers decide to go about their business quietly like Nebraska did and hire somebody that nobody had on their radar. They go to Madison, Wisconsin and hire away Gary Andersen as their new head coach. A move that made me react with a "Really? Wow." The Beavers went into the Big 10 and took a coach from a Big 10 power school and made him their own coach. That does deserve some high praise for a bold move like that.
On a day when the university announced a $43 million dollar improvement to the facilities around the football program. Adding this announcement of the new coach on top of that made the fan base react with a lot of optimism and hope. This is a fan base that needs something to grab onto because they see what happened 45 minutes to the south of them at University of Oregon. There is a bit of jealously attached with that hope when they see what the Ducks have done in the past few years. Beaver fans want that happening for them as well, I can attest to that being an alumni of that school.
I like the hire of Gary Andersen very much. He's a guy with western roots and has a reputation of recruiting very good players. College football is about recruiting and facilities and now it looks like the Beavers are getting a good dose of both things. One of the things that I have for Andersen is what coaches is he bringing with him or possibly hiring to coach the defense and offense? Andersen is going to have a totally new defense on his hands and that is going to be a major question mark going into the 2015 season. However, lets focus on the good hire that he is for the Beavers.
He obviously liked the pitch from the powers that be at Oregon State and what they said they are trying to do in Corvallis. Many would look at him going from Wisconsin to Oregon State as a step backward, but you never know why coaches do what they sometimes and we may never know the true reason he left Madison for Corvallis, but right now the Beaver fans and alumni don't care about that reason. They know that he is their coach and the next person to help restore the program to level of consistent winning and to do something about that "other" program in the state of Oregon.
It's going to be interesting to hear the press conference on Friday and what his plans are. It's going to be even more interesting to see how he reshapes this program in his image and how the fans react to him. I think Beaver fans are ready for the 2015 season to get started right now. I'll be looking forward to the next season that is for sure.
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