With
the forced resignation of Milt Bruhn, Wisconsin sought a "name" coach and Notre Dame
defensive coordinator John Ray was the first choice. The financially
strapped athletic department could not meet his demand for a
$25,000.00 per year salary which was standard at the time, so looked
to their own staff of Bruhn assistants and hired former Badger
quarterback and passing great John Coatta for a bargain-basement
price of $19,500.00, less than Bruhn received in his final years.
Money was found however, to upgrade the helmets. The Badgers entered
the season wearing cardinal helmets with a white “Bucky Badger” logo
on each side and three-inch, white medium rounded style identifying
numerals were placed on the rear of the shells. Coatta had been a
Bill Peterson assistant at pass-happy Florida State yet his offenses
proved to be non-productive. Its not as if the defenses he presented
were great either as in his three-year tenure, every team on the
schedule scored in double-digits! The season began and ended
terribly with only a 21-21 tie against lowly Iowa the "highlight" of a 0-9-1 year. Fullback
Kim Wood was denied a medical redshirt year which hurt the rushing
attack and he went on to become the very first officially hired
strength coach in the NFL, beginning his work with the Bengals in
1974 and serving until his retirement thirty years later. John
Smith, the next fullback in line was the leading rusher with a
paltry 362 yards and basketball player Mel Reddick proved to be the
best receiver with forty-two catches for 524 yards. Defensive tackle
Tom Domres and linebacker Ken Criter were the only consistent
defensive standouts on a squad that yielded 3404 yards and 224
points with Domres going on to a five year career split between the
Oilers and Broncos and Criter being named All Big Ten by way of his
132 tackles. Six missed field goals which resulted in a 21-20 loss
against Indiana mirrored the type of 1968 the Badgers
had, finishing 0-10. In a season bereft of highlights, wide receiver
Reddick again was the top target, snaring 34 passes for 375 yards
and wingback Stu Voight, a former high school national record holder
in the shot put who had bounced around as a ball carrier and
receiver at UW, was the second leading receiver. The defense was led
by tackle Bill Gregory an All Big Ten honoree and tackle leader
Criter who then took his linebacking skills to the Denver Broncos
for six seasons.
The agony of defeat
continued until the fourth game of ’69 when the losing streak ended
against Iowa with a twenty-three point explosion that resulted in a
23-17 victory, prompting fans to storm the field in ecstasy. The
delirium did not end at the stadium.
According to newspaper
reports literally thousands of celebratory students first marched on
the state capitol after the game and then continued their beer
fueled antics in the streets. The end of the twenty-three game
losing streak was heralded with cheers of "We're Number One!" into
the early morning hours. Quarterback Neil Graff had decent numbers
of 93 completions for 1086 yards and Alan "A-Train" Thompson rushed
for nine touchdowns and 907 yards of the Badgers' 3377 yearly total.
Big Ten 60-Yard Sprint champ Greg "Grape Juice" Johnson was a
leading kick returner, bringing back twenty-five for 541 yards. The
offense was bolstered by tight end Stu Voight who pulled in
thirty-nine passes and completed his Wisconsin career with three
letters won in football, three in track and field, and two in
baseball. He later played eleven seasons for the Vikings and has
been named to their All Time Team. Defensive tackle Bill Gregory
played well but 3-7 and a three-year total of a painful 3-26-1 was
the worst run in Wisconsin history and Coatta was shown the
door. With him went the black shelled “Savage Award Helmets” given
to “the most aggressive Badger players” during the 1969 season ( see
HELMET
HUT
http://www.helmethut.com/College/Wisconsin/UW1969.html
). Though the award had been introduced by Coatta after 1967’s
opening game against Washington and continued throughout his tenure
at Wisconsin, it was during the 1969 season that both the cardinal
and black helmets featuring Bucky Badger shared the field. Coatta
continued to coach at Minnesota’s Mankato State from 1970 through
’75 when the school dropped the program, and then scouted in the
NFL. Former Badger great Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch had taken the AD
post and in a cost-cutting move by the State Board Of Audit, former
coach Milt Bruhn was released from his position as Assistant
Athletic Director except nobody bothered to tell him. Poor Bruhn who
had served Wisconsin so well for many years, was told he
had been fired by a gas station attendant that had read it in the
morning newspaper.
.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
