We're just 40 days to the start of something new, not something continued on from the past, but a completely new and different era in Wisconsin Badgers football lore – the Gary Andersen era. For some that concept is still very fresh and hard to put their heads around and it may take a season to adjust to life post "the coach that shall not be named."
That said, a lot of people have been focusing on the here and now, the 2013 version of the Wisconsin Badgers and understandably so since we are so close to the start of the season. However, hardly anyone has even attempted to look further than that and that's because it means tackling a difficult and complicated concept: Expectations.
Ask yourself this question – What are the expectations for the Gary Andersen era at Wisconsin?
Are they winning three straight Big Ten championships? Getting to the Rose Bowl more than once in a four year period? Winning a Rose Bowl? Winning division titles on a consistent basis? Or is it winning ten games or more on a consistent basis? How about competing in the soon to be College Football Playoff?
Are you content with where the program is at or do you expect the new guy to take us even further and compete for national championships?
Those are some high level expectations to meet for any coach, but for some in the Badger fan base those weren't good enough reasons to like Bret Bielema and what he did at the UW – they openly rooted for him to be gone from Wisconsin and were downright giddy when he left.
Sure, there was the personal stuff, how he rubbed some fans and those of us in the media the wrong way and quibbling over in-game calls, but set that aside for a moment and think about what you're saying if you're saying Bret Bielema wasn't a good enough coach…..
You're basically asking for perfection, because what you are saying is that winning ten games or more four out of seven seasons, winning three straight Big Ten championships and going to a bowl game every year is no longer good enough to stay head coach at Wisconsin.
Frankly if those are your expectations that's some difficult stuff to live up to for even the best amongst the 
coaching ranks. Hell, you'll be asking him to do things the great and saintly Barry Alvarez couldn't do at Wisconsin either.
So, what exactly should the expectations of the Gary Andersen era be? How do you measure if he's a success in the Cardinal and White? These are questions few in Badger nation are really talking about beyond the expectations of the here and now. Most just seem to think the world will continue to give Wisconsin what it's gotten in the past few seasons, as if it's the norm. News flash, that wasn't the norm – not even for a school like Michigan or Nebraska or Alabama etc.
Those questions above are also beg us to ask what is the identity of UW football and perhaps ultimately that will be what Andersen's legacy will be about. However, that still doesn't solve what fans can expect from Andersen during his time at Wisconsin.
Looking at the history of coaches that have moved on from non-BCS conference schools directly to a BCS conference school could be a good place to help us explore what to expect from the Andersen era at Wisconsin, no?
Since 1998 (the first season of the BCS) there have been 29 coaches that have made the jump to the BCS conference schools from either non-BCS schools or the ranks of the FCS division. Of those 29 coaches 15 of them had/have winning records and 12 coaches who have made the jump are currently still head coaches at BCS level programs.
What's even more interesting is digging further into the details, which frankly sets up some not so wonderful pictures. That's because only nine of those 15 coaches with winning records were/are with their teams for 5 years or longer.
Of those 29 coaches, 12 are no longer actively coaching at the BCS level. Those 12 coaches survived just 6.75 years on the job with an average win total of 5.8 wins a season. Currently only four of the 29 coaches are currently with their teams or other BCS teams and have been for 5 years or longer.
Now, for some really bad news. Only SEVEN of the 29 coaches won conference championships and only FOUR won more than one conference title. As for BCS bowl games, it's a similar situation as only seven made BCS bowl games and only three made multiple BCS bowl game births.
Sure, in a year's time that won't matter, but it's a pretty good indication of just how tough it is to make it to the top level of the college football world and even with four teams making the playoff and opening up more "BCS" bowl games it won't be easy to continue to get back there.
That means if your expectations are to win conference championships more often than not, odds are against that happening historically.
So, the odds are (historically speaking) that Andersen may not be any more than mediocre at best. Unless there is something more to those numbers? That's were there is some good news, because there is one fact that is in favor of Andersen succeeding in a big way.
The most interesting part of all of this and perhaps the most relevant to UW's situation is that of all the 29 coaches coming from non-BCS schools to BCS schools only two were coming into positions that were strong before they got there and that was Urban Meyer at Florida and Jim Tressel at Ohio State. Guess what? Those guys made their new homes way better than their predecessors did.
Maybe, just maybe history is telling us that having a solid foundation to build off of coupled with a coach who knows how to be successful is the formula for even greater things. At the end of the day we can't predict the future, but Wisconsin football is clearly on a solid foundation and if Andersen can build off of that this team as limitless potential.
The question is what will the Badger fanbase set as the baseline of expectations for their new coach. 2013 sure will tell a lot in that area and truth is we may not have answers to the questions we asked until after this season is over and Andersen has real control over almost all of the roster.
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