Rose Bowl Interview: Andy Buh

The storyline associated with Wisconsin linebacker coach Andy Buh is one of the more interesting subplots of the Rose Bowl game.

Prior to arriving at Wisconsin (and before a two-year stop at Nevada), Buh spent three seasons at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh, first as linebackers coach then as a defensive coordinator. And immediately following the Rose Bowl game, Buh will move back to the Bay Area to begin his tenure as Cal's defensive coordinator.

Cardinal Sports Report caught up with Buh on Saturday morning at Rose Bowl Media day in Los Angeles to discuss his unique position.

Cardinal Sports Report: What's the mindset going in facing your old school where you know so many of those guys still?

Andy Buh: First of all, it's just an honor to be in this game and really happy to see Stanford back in the Rose Bowl. It's just going to be a really special day for me and all the people that I know that are involved in this game.

CSR: Do you still stay in touch with some of those guys back at Stanford, players, coaches?

AB: Not so much the players, but yeah, many of the coaches and support staff.

CSR: Any kind of extra edge for you guys knowing what Stanford does so well?

AB: I don't know if there's an extra advantage there. I've been gone for several years. I think both offenses have a lot of similarities. The one thing I've been able to help out was with some of the personnel, older personnel there. Real familiar with them and really loved seeing how they've grown into really good football players since I've been gone.

Is their success, three straight BCS bowls, when you guys were there building that foundation, is this something you ever saw coming for Stanford?

AB: That was the mindset going in. Going in, Jim (Harbaugh) really stressed winning every game and believing that we could do it. I think that's carried over into what you're seeing in the past three years.

CSR: Can you just comment on the Shayne Skov's and Trent Murphy's and Chase Thomas' and how you've seen them progress over the past few years from afar?

AB: They're doing exactly what we thought they would do when we recruited them. We knew that they were really dynamic players, and those guys were recruited at a time when Stanford wasn't very good. So just really proud of them and how they've developed into being excellent football players.

CSR: In terms of stopping Stanford defensively, is it a little bit nice for you guys when you're playing in the Rose Bowl to face a team with a more conventional pro-style offense that's maybe a little bit more familiar?

AB: I think every offense that we play gives us a lot of different problems. Stanford's going to present a lot of the same problems that any offense does, but yeah, there's definitely some familiarity with their style because of what we do at Wisconsin.

CSR: Looking forward to getting back to the West Coast at Cal, what are your thoughts on getting back out there?

First of all, Sonny Dykes is an unbelievable guy. To have a chance to come back to the Bay and work with Sonny Dykes was really a no-brainer from my standpoint. My family loves the Bay Area, we love Sonny Dykes, we believe in his vision, and with what Cal has done in the past few years in terms of upgrading their facilities and stuff of that nature, we really think we can build something special there.