One thing Barry Alvarez never had was a quarterback controversy.

He lifted the University of Wisconsin into position as one of the top college football programs in the country with a simple formula.

Get some huge guys to play the offensive line. Teach them how to block really well. Find a quarterback who won't fumble the snap. Teach him how to hand it off. Sit back and watch a legion of runners tear up the Big Ten. Nobody really cared who played quarterback.

Forget Woody Hayes. Alvarez was the real "three yards and a cloud of dust" guy. That was Wisconsin football.

All good things must end, though, and Alvarez quit coaching and become the athletic director. He had made his job very simple when he was the coach. He should only have such a simple job now.

I think Alvarez may be facing one of the toughest situations any leader ever faces. He may be wondering whether to admit that he made a mistake when he handed the job to Bret Bielema.

I think back to Ron Wolf, my idea of the almost-perfect football executive. Wolf had to replace a Super Bowl coach when Mike Holmgren left. The man he tapped was Ray Rhodes.

One year later, when everybody knew it had been a mistake, Wolf corrected his own error by firing Rhodes. It wasn't an easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.

That may be where Alvarez is now.

People actually argued this year over who the quarterback should be at Wisconsin. That's how far this program has fallen.

From a 12-1 record in his Bielema's first year, the Badgers have fallen to 9-4 last year and a disappointing 7-6 this year. Bielema's teams have gone from the Capital One to the Outback to the Champs Sports Bowl, where they were crushed last week. If this keeps up, next year they may play before Christmas. Now, that's an insult.

Bielema has a 28-11 record in three years. On the surface, that's not bad, but the number trend is not good. Neither is the buzz trend.

People in this state, even those of us 90 miles away in Milwaukee, used to really pay attention to Wisconsin football. In the last two years, that buzz has dropped off. Sure, the cardinal-clad freaks will always be around. However, for the rest of us Wisconsin football is in danger of becoming a "not-sure-I-want-to-read in the paper or on a Web site" deal.

You can find a good example in basketball. The Badgers made it to the Final Four and coach Dick Bennett quit three games into the following season. Brad Soderberg was named interim coach, but it was obvious he wasn't the guy and Pat Richter, Alvarez's predecessor, pulled the trigger and hired Bo Ryan before things got too bad.

Soderberg wasn't terrible. He led the Badgers to a 16-10 record and he got them in the NCAA tournament, but he was a downward trend.

The best thing Alvarez could do is figure out whether this football trend is a slide in the wrong direction or just a blip.

If he is honest with himself, he will conclude that Bielema is one of those guys who was a great coordinator but just doesn't have it as a head coach.

One of the best things about Alvarez the coach was that he had a big set of stones. He wasn't afraid to say what he meant and make it stick.

He needs to show some of that same toughness now and make a change before this program falls back into Don Morton range of relevance.