Utah State's Gary Andersen, who guided the Aggies to their first bowl victory in 19 years, will be named Wisconsin's new coach, sources told ESPN.
The earliest a state job in Wisconsin can be filled is two weeks after the job's posting, meaning Andersen can't be officially announced by the school until Thursday.
Andersen interviewed with Wisconsin on Monday.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported Tuesday that two sources close to the Badgers program said Andersen was athletic director Barry Alvarez's top choice to succeed Bret Bielema, who left to take the Arkansas job.
Alvarez certainly is familiar with Andersen. On Sept. 15, the Aggies nearly upset the Badgers, but lost 16-14 when kicker Josh Thompson missed a 37-yard field goal in the final seconds.
In four years at Utah State, Andersen was 27-24, including this season's 11-2 mark. The Aggies nearly went unbeaten, losing only to Wisconsin and BYU, 6-3.
Andersen led Utah State to its first bowl victory in 19 seasons on Saturday, a 41-15 triumph over Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Prior to Utah State, Andersen was an assistant at Utah from 2004-08 (defensive coordinator from 2005-08), head coach at Southern Utah in 2003 and an assistant at Utah from 1997-2002.
1D_for_lifePosts: 13,785destroyer of motherfuckers
The Texas A&M University System has selected the cheapest of seven construction bids to renovate Kyle Field.
Manhattan-Vaughn Construction beat out seven competitors for the construction project. The system will pay Manhattan-Vaughn Construction a fee of $3.575 million, equal to 1.2 percent of the construction costs.
"I think this is the most significant construction project that any of us will ever be involved in our life," said A&M System Chancellor John Sharp. "Kyle Field is a megaphone from which we speak to the world, whether you like it or not. That's how folks hear about Texas A&M." The construction team was formed by two Aggie-run businesses. Manhattan Construction Group is the premier football stadium construction company in Texas and Vaughn Construction has a 16-year, $500 million history with A&M projects.
Manhattan Construction Group has built other colossal Texas football projects such as the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Reliant Stadium in Houston and Apogee Stadium at the University of North Texas.
It is currently building the University of Houston's new stadium. Vaughn Construction recently renovated the Memorial Student Center. It has built the Mitchell Physics building, the Jack E. Brown engineering building and the West Campus Garage.
With the selection of the construction company, the final design for the renovation becomes more clear. System officials said Manhattan-Vaughn will brainstorm with previously selected architect Populous of Kansas City to create a final design.
That design will be vetted by A&M President R. Bowen Loftin and the final decision will go before the board of regents.
Sharp said a recommendation to the board of regents for the redevelopment of Kyle Field should occur in the spring of 2013. A final decision could come at the regents' January meeting, although that would be unlikely, and that the "drop-dead" date for a decision is May, he added.
The estimated final cost of bringing the stadium to 100,000-plus capacity is still about $425 million, Sharp said.
He was confident the university could produce the money.
"It won't be state dollars -- it will be money raised from the 12th Man Foundation, including the selling of suites," Sharp said. "There will be a ton more suites in this stadium, naming rights and those things, and the revenue the stadium will bring in will be more than enough." The highest bid fee was $11 million by Clark Construction/Bartlett Cocke, approximately three times Manhattan-Vaughn's winning bid. The average bid was $7,078,333. However, the total bid amount by Turner Construction at 1.6 percent was not provided.
Sharp was excited about capitalizing on the lowest bid. He called it "lowest comparative project bid in the nation."
"We want to thank all of the bidders that bid," Sharp said. "All are great qualified folks, but Manhattan brought a bid to the table that has never been seen before anywhere. That saves many millions of dollars off the cost."
Greg McClure, vice president of Manhattan Construction Group, was similarly excited about the deal. He said the size of the project allowed the company to provide the lowest bid. "When you have a job this big you can come down on your number," McClure said. "It's also quick ... It's a big number coming through your company pretty fast. Vaughn and us knew that it was going to take something special, an aggressive approach."
If the project moves ahead as planned, select buildings surrounding Kyle Field will be torn down starting around mid-summer of 2013.
Construction is scheduled to start in November 2013, after the last football game of A&M's regular season, McClure said.
The approximate 27-month construction will halt for the 2014 football season and run the entire off-season.
The fully renovated stadium, if construction is approved as planned, will be ready for the 2015 season.
"Normally, in the majority of stadiums we do, they are normally ground-up," said McClure. "This one, the north end zone stays and various other parts of the stadium stay and we tie into it. We have to work around a lot of the existing infrastructure that's already there. It really is a revitalization."
McClure graduated from A&M in 1990, one year before Bill Vaughn, co-owner of Vaughn Construction. The pair knew each other in college, decades before pairing up on multi-million dollar construction deals.
"It is going to be so fast and require so much work on various fronts on the stadium; it's going to take quite a few people," McClure said. "When you have the need for that many people, it just makes sense to bring in a partner. And when your partner is your friend it makes it even better."
The stadium will potentially have one of the three largest capacities in the nation and become the biggest in the Lone Star State. McClure said it will be the biggest project seating-wise that his company has built.
"We can't wait to get started on this," McClure said. "For Aggies to get to come home and build your home stadium, it's just something you never imagine you'll get to do."
Comments
Agreed. The helmets are great, but I wasn't really liking the jerseys
The earliest a state job in Wisconsin can be filled is two weeks after the job's posting, meaning Andersen can't be officially announced by the school until Thursday.
Andersen interviewed with Wisconsin on Monday.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported Tuesday that two sources close to the Badgers program said Andersen was athletic director Barry Alvarez's top choice to succeed Bret Bielema, who left to take the Arkansas job.
Alvarez certainly is familiar with Andersen. On Sept. 15, the Aggies nearly upset the Badgers, but lost 16-14 when kicker Josh Thompson missed a 37-yard field goal in the final seconds.
In four years at Utah State, Andersen was 27-24, including this season's 11-2 mark. The Aggies nearly went unbeaten, losing only to Wisconsin and BYU, 6-3.
Andersen led Utah State to its first bowl victory in 19 seasons on Saturday, a 41-15 triumph over Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Prior to Utah State, Andersen was an assistant at Utah from 2004-08 (defensive coordinator from 2005-08), head coach at Southern Utah in 2003 and an assistant at Utah from 1997-2002.
Manhattan-Vaughn Construction beat out seven competitors for the construction project. The system will pay Manhattan-Vaughn Construction a fee of $3.575 million, equal to 1.2 percent of the construction costs.
"I think this is the most significant construction project that any of us will ever be involved in our life," said A&M System Chancellor John Sharp. "Kyle Field is a megaphone from which we speak to the world, whether you like it or not. That's how folks hear about Texas A&M."
The construction team was formed by two Aggie-run businesses. Manhattan Construction Group is the premier football stadium construction company in Texas and Vaughn Construction has a 16-year, $500 million history with A&M projects.
Manhattan Construction Group has built other colossal Texas football projects such as the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Reliant Stadium in Houston and Apogee Stadium at the University of North Texas.
It is currently building the University of Houston's new stadium.
Vaughn Construction recently renovated the Memorial Student Center. It has built the Mitchell Physics building, the Jack E. Brown engineering building and the West Campus Garage.
With the selection of the construction company, the final design for the renovation becomes more clear. System officials said Manhattan-Vaughn will brainstorm with previously selected architect Populous of Kansas City to create a final design.
That design will be vetted by A&M President R. Bowen Loftin and the final decision will go before the board of regents.
Sharp said a recommendation to the board of regents for the redevelopment of Kyle Field should occur in the spring of 2013. A final decision could come at the regents' January meeting, although that would be unlikely, and that the "drop-dead" date for a decision is May, he added.
The estimated final cost of bringing the stadium to 100,000-plus capacity is still about $425 million, Sharp said.
He was confident the university could produce the money.
"It won't be state dollars -- it will be money raised from the 12th Man Foundation, including the selling of suites," Sharp said. "There will be a ton more suites in this stadium, naming rights and those things, and the revenue the stadium will bring in will be more than enough."
The highest bid fee was $11 million by Clark Construction/Bartlett Cocke, approximately three times Manhattan-Vaughn's winning bid. The average bid was $7,078,333. However, the total bid amount by Turner Construction at 1.6 percent was not provided.
Sharp was excited about capitalizing on the lowest bid. He called it "lowest comparative project bid in the nation."
"We want to thank all of the bidders that bid," Sharp said. "All are great qualified folks, but Manhattan brought a bid to the table that has never been seen before anywhere. That saves many millions of dollars off the cost."
Greg McClure, vice president of Manhattan Construction Group, was similarly excited about the deal. He said the size of the project allowed the company to provide the lowest bid.
"When you have a job this big you can come down on your number," McClure said. "It's also quick ... It's a big number coming through your company pretty fast. Vaughn and us knew that it was going to take something special, an aggressive approach."
If the project moves ahead as planned, select buildings surrounding Kyle Field will be torn down starting around mid-summer of 2013.
Construction is scheduled to start in November 2013, after the last football game of A&M's regular season, McClure said.
The approximate 27-month construction will halt for the 2014 football season and run the entire off-season.
The fully renovated stadium, if construction is approved as planned, will be ready for the 2015 season.
"Normally, in the majority of stadiums we do, they are normally ground-up," said McClure. "This one, the north end zone stays and various other parts of the stadium stay and we tie into it. We have to work around a lot of the existing infrastructure that's already there. It really is a revitalization."
McClure graduated from A&M in 1990, one year before Bill Vaughn, co-owner of Vaughn Construction. The pair knew each other in college, decades before pairing up on multi-million dollar construction deals.
"It is going to be so fast and require so much work on various fronts on the stadium; it's going to take quite a few people," McClure said. "When you have the need for that many people, it just makes sense to bring in a partner. And when your partner is your friend it makes it even better."
The stadium will potentially have one of the three largest capacities in the nation and become the biggest in the Lone Star State. McClure said it will be the biggest project seating-wise that his company has built.
"We can't wait to get started on this," McClure said. "For Aggies to get to come home and build your home stadium, it's just something you never imagine you'll get to do."
New NIU uniforms for the Orange Bowl
Ridiculous. I know Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks were sent home.
DAMMIT.
They really didn't look like they wanted to win after that go ahead TD