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Mike Lucas: Nayes happy to do dirty work for UW football program
Being one of the handlers for a buffalo -- Ralphie, the University of Colorado mascot -- sounded like a much dirtier job than being a parking attendant at Fenway Park or a beer vendor at Wrigley Field. Especially if Ralphie was on an all-bran diet. "We start running and she starts pooping," Adam Gregory, the handler, told the Sporting News. "And I'm behind her, just trying to hold on and keep up. And it's flying everywhere; all over my face, my clothes, everything."
That's not dirty, that's downright nasty, and it has to rank near the top -- or the bottom -- of the Sporting News' list of dirty jobs, which included being an NHL enforcer, a NASCAR tire man, an NBA stopper, an NFL wedge buster, and a Major League catcher for a knuckleball pitcher.
There were a few other entries on the list, which appeared in the May 26 issue, not the least of which was being the director of football operations at the University of Wisconsin. That has been Bill Nayes' job for three years, corresponding with Bret Bielema's tenure as head coach. Who knew that Fooball Ops was a dirty job? "It's not really," Nayes conceded sheepishly. "I don't look at it that way."
You want a dirty job? For a couple of summers, Nayes worked in a meat packing plant in Abbotsford, some 144 miles from Madison. "I worked on the loading dock and sometimes where they were boning beef," said Nayes, a native of Boyd and graduate of Stanley-Boyd High School. "There were worse jobs, like where they were killing the cattle. That's a dirty job."
You want another one? How about being a holdover from the Don Morton era when Barry Alvarez took over the woebegone UW football program and held everyone accountable, from players to secretaries to team managers. Nayes was one of the latter. "It was night and day, a 180-degree turn in our duties, and what we had to do," Nayes said. "It was a shock to everybody -- but in a good way. Things needed to change."
Many left. Nayes stuck it out. In retrospect, few have had dirtier jobs than Alvarez, who changed the losing culture at Wisconsin. Nayes was part of the renaissance in the early to mid-'90s at his alma mater. Although he was skilled in electronics (his original pursuit) and certified in history (his ultimate major), he was smitten by the day-to-day operations of the UW football office. "It really didn't seem like work," he said of his various duties that continued to expand from year to year.
That all ultimately led to an internship and full-time job with the Green Bay Packers where Nayes came under the wing of coach Mike Holmgren. "One of my jobs -- and it might sound dirty, but it wasn't -- was to drive him to practice every day," said Nayes, who was Holmgren's administrative assistant. "It's not a far drive -- just across the Lambeau Field parking lot. But I'd pick him up twice a day in a minivan and take him to and from practice."
Nayes estimated that he spent about 20 minutes a day one-on-one with Holmgren. Nobody else got that time. "I usually didn't talk unless he initiated the conversation," Nayes said. "Some days you could tell he didn't feel like talking. Other days we talked a lot about family and things. When my dad passed away (from cancer), he was very understanding and a big help."
That bond grew when Holmgren left for Seattle and took Nayes along as a member of his support staff. Nayes' responsibilities also grew as he evolved into the Seahawks' coordinator of football operations and team travel, no small feat. "We traveled more than any team in the NFL," pointed out Nayes, who handled the logistics for a variety of things, including mini-camps, meals and daily practice schedules.
You want a dirty job? That wasn't it. Not even close, since Nayes enjoyed working for Holmgren and grew to love the area, especially since he met and married his wife (Paige) in Seattle. But there was a dirty job in Nayes' future -- telling Holmgren that he was going back to Madison to take over Football Ops for Bielema. "It was like telling your dad that you had just crashed his car," Nayes said. "It was probably the hardest thing I had to do in my life."
But he simply couldn't turn down the opportunity to return to Wisconsin. There was enough familiarity with the landscape to make for a smooth transition, particularly since John Chadima groomed Nayes during his first tour of duty, and now Nayes was taking over for Chadima, who was joining Alvarez's senior staff. But from Nayes' standpoint, it was Bielema who closed the deal with his persuasive recruiting pitch and vision for success.
"I saw a lot of similarities between Bret and coach Holmgren in just the way they looked at the big picture," said Nayes. "I've been around a lot of assistants who don't have the big vision, or don't see the big picture and just aren't cut out to be head coaches. But I could tell it was different with Bret. He talked a lot about his support staff and you can tell that he appreciates what each person does. Whether he's the equipment guy or the video coordinator, it's important."
Holmgren could be demanding, even brusque. No detail was too small. Everything was predicated on the business of winning football games. Nayes never saw Holmgren as high-maintenance, though. "If you're doing a good job, he noticed," Nayes related. "If you screwed up, he's going to tell you. That's what I see with Bret. He just cares a lot about everything."
That was Nayes' view from his Camp Randall Stadium office, which is adjacent to Bielema's office and features a spectacular view from the balcony overlooking the field. As a manager, Nayes has had his share of thankless, if not dirty jobs, from washing an assistant's car to checking on an athlete's class attendance. Despite making the Sporting News list, this is not a dirty job. "The view is pretty good," he acknowledged with a grin.
Bill Nayes, UW director of football operations
