It's hard to ask for a better season than the one UW football fans enjoyed under rookie head coach Bret Bielema. The Badgers went 12-1, won a second consecutive Capital One Bowl and saw senior Joe Thomas taken third in the NFL Draft.
Although few would admit it now, countless Wisconsin fans dreaded the departure of former head coach and current Athletic Director Barry Alvarez from the sidelines. After all, Alvarez won three Rose Bowls and presided over one of the most impressive rebuildings of a program in college football history. Bielema had never worn the head coach's headset in his life. A year later, however, it appears the Badgers never missed a beat.
Of course, the Alvarez-to-Bielema transfer of power was about as democratic as a North Korean election, with the legend handpicking a successor sure to adopt his style and strategy. And Bielema led Wisconsin to its highest win total ever with players recruited primarily by Alvarez.
But Bielema has already shown he can run the show all by himself. With a stellar recruiting class on the way and returning starters like P.J. Hill and Travis Beckum developing solely under his watch, UW's best impression of Ed O'Neill's character in Little Giants is well on his way to national success.
Look for the Badgers to contend for the Big Ten title once again in 2007—remember, in Ann Arbor, they were only a bad half away from going undefeated last year—and look for Bielema to have them playing the same crushing defense and ball-control offense Wisconsin fans have gotten used to over the past 15 years.
He might not be Barry Alvarez just yet, but at only 37 years old, Bret Bielema has plenty of time to build his own legacy at Camp Randall.
Honorable Mention: Mark Johnson
Women's hockey may not be as popular as basketball or football at UW-Madison, but it's hard to argue with two straight national championships.
The Badgers have become one of the most dominant teams in the country under Johnson's watch, and with a number of starters returning for next season, they'll probably be in contention again come the 2008 title race.
At such a sports-crazy college, Johnson has established himself as a winner and gotten attention for a sport so disrespected that even the girl in the Mighty Ducks movies had to play on a boys' team. We can only hope he keeps up the good work.
