Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer spoke eloquently and persuasively about his team’s goal line stand at the end of the first half Saturday night at Camp Randall.
“We always say, ‘Give us an inch and we’ll defend it,’’’ he said. “That’s kind of our motto. It felt good to be able to hold strong and force them to a field goal at the end of the half. That was big for us.’’
The Badgers, down 10-3 after that field goal, would tie the game 10-10 in their first drive of the third quarter — but the Buckeyes then played as persuasively as Sawyer speaks and went on to win 24-10.
Rich Thompson watched it all unfold from his seat on the 30-yard-line. It was the first time the former Wisconsin placekicker had seen a game under the lights at Camp Randall. He was impressed.
“This is such a beautiful place,’’ enthused Thompson, 52, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida. “They’ve done a good job of preserving it all by keeping some of the legacy stuff in place.
“The team is obviously in a turnaround. I think Fickell is the guy that’s going to get it done. They’ve got a bit of a ways to go. Ohio State was ripe to be beaten. But we couldn’t get over the edge.’’
Thompson knows firsthand what it feels like to beat the Buckeyes. In 1992, he booted a couple of field goals in a 20-16 win over No. 12 Ohio State in Madison.
It was the first victory over a ranked team in coach Barry Alvarez’ first three seasons. It was also the first time the Badgers had won a Big Ten opener under Alvarez.
The smash-mouth UW defense sacked OSU quarterback Kirk Herbstreit five times. Said safety Reggie Holt: “We’ve always found a way to lose. But that’s all over now.’’
Sure enough, the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl following the 1993 regular season. Everything just neatly fell into place, and they were well ahead of schedule, even by Alvarez’ standards.
Despite not getting a chance to go to a bowl game in the 1992 season, nobody could put that turnaround from Don Morton to Alvarez into better context than Thompson, a first team All-Big Ten kicker as a senior that year.
Thompson started his Badgers career under Morton, who was fired in 1989. What was it like during those dark years? Thompson bared his soul after that ‘92 win vs. the Buckeyes.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to me,’’ he said. “I remember going to class and sitting in an auditorium with 350 people and hearing the professor say, ‘Our football team sucks.’
“I remember going to class and making sure that I would take off my football shirt and letter jacket because it was a shame to be on the football team here. It was ridiculous.
“We’ve been through the valley and now we’re at the peak. But we have to keep perspective.’’
Thompson is very good at that. Here’s some perspective on who he is today:
An accomplished global executive with more than 25 years of experience in staffing, recruiting, human resources, leadership development, culture, performance and talent management.
Thompson is the founder of the Xtra Point Group, an HR consulting company. He’s responsible for launching Podium X, a branding software for athletes to help them maximize opportunities.
Thompson is also an author. Teaming up with Ann Schultz, he released his book in April titled, “Relentless: Leading through performance, relationships and the lessons of sports.’’
The foreword was written by one of Thompson’s former Badgers teammates, Chris Ballard, the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts in the National Football League.
Quoting Thompson from page 215: “I wrote this book to give all business leaders a road map to better team culture. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a sports team that transformed its culture.’’
From losing to winning. He was referencing, of course, the Badgers under Alvarez. As Thompson wrote, “I’ve tried to apply what I learned on that team to my business career.’’
That career included Thompson being the former head of HR for a $10 billion organization and the head of talent for more than 60 countries of a Global 500 company.
“I’m trying to strike the correlation between leadership in corporate and leadership in athletics,’’ he said. “It’s a super practical approach with takeaways that can be implemented at any level.”
Thompson’s buzz words or five foundational C’s in “Relentless’’ are consistency, coaching, communication, connection and courage. Qualities you’d find in any successful head coach or player.
Commit to winning, Thompson implores, in everything you do, all the time. Strengthen leadership. Align talent. Increase retention. Impact performance. Enrich culture.
Thompson believes Fickell has the necessary makeup and foundation to get the job done.
“When coach Alvarez came in, he basically got our attention really early,’’ Thompson remembered. “He needed to find the guys who were going to ride with him.
“You’ve got to figure out how to compete and then you’ve got to learn how to win.’’
The Badgers are in the midst of that stage. Reshaping who they are and what they can be. At some point they hope to speak more eloquently and persuasively in the company of the Ohio States.
But they’re not there yet.