Q&A with Wisconsin writer about Tim Tibesar

To learn more about Oregon State's new defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar, BeaversEdge.com spoke with John Veldhuis, writer for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network.

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What are your overall impressions of Tibesar based on his three years at Wisconsin?

I think Tibesar proved at Wisconsin that he's a very good position coach who has earned the chance to take another crack at being a Power Five defensive coordinator. He did an excellent job coaching Wisconsin's outside linebackers during his three seasons at UW and helped tutor some excellent players - most notably Joe Schobert, who was a great college linebacker and just tied for the NFL lead in tackles last year, and T.J. Watt, who had a great first season with the Steelers.

Vince Biegel, Garret Dooley, and Leon Jacobs all played their best football during the last few years at UW, and those outside linebackers proved to be the heart of Wisconsin's aggressive 3-4 defense. His players loved working with him too, and while they weren't excited to see him leave for Oregon State, they were definitely happy for him to get a chance to take the next step in his career.

Is he considered a strong defensive mind? Basically, do you and other people around the Wisconsin program think he's ready to be a Power Five defensive coordinator?

I think it depends a bit on who you ask - his players certainly think he's ready. He did interview for Wisconsin's open defensive coordinator job twice - but Paul Chryst went with Justin Wilcox and then Jim Leonhard both times. Tibesar had a voice in Wisconsin's defense over the last three years, though, and he and Leonhard spent time together this year to share ideas and bounce things off of each other. I will be curious to see how he does in this stint as a defensive coordinator, and I bet that the time he's spent with Dave Aranda, Wilcox and Leonhard will help him have more success this time than he did at Purdue and Kansas State.

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How was Tibesar as a recruiter? Did he just recruit outside linebackers or did he recruit multiple areas?

Tibesar's primary focus was recruiting Illinois for the Badgers, and he had a big hand in landing one of their top prospects in the 2018 recruiting class in four-star linebacker Jack Sanborn. Illinois is a tough assignment for the Badgers since so many programs recruit the state and the Chicago area in particular, but Tibesar was able to help the Badgers get a few good prospects out of state. He also had a hand in recruiting the outside linebackers overall - the Badgers try and have a recruit's area coach and position coach stay in touch with them throughout the process.

How is Tibesar with the media? Is he a pretty savvy, well spoken guy?

Yeah, I would say so. The Badgers only have their assistants available for regular interviews during the spring and fall camps, but Tibesar was a good guy to talk to whenever I got the chance. I think both his new players at Oregon State and the media will like talking to him - he's a straight shooter.