Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett shares his immediate thoughts after the Detroit Lions hired offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press
When Darrell Bevell showed up for the start of winter conditioning in 1992, the Wisconsin training staff didn’t know what to make of the scrawny kid just back from a two-year Mormon mission.
“Our strength coach came upstairs and talked to Coach (Barry) Alvarez and said, ‘Look, if we put this guy in this program, we’re going to kill him,’ ” longtime NFL coach and former Wisconsin assistant Brad Childress recalled. “He goes, ‘He has no base at all.