Gary Andersen's son had no inside knowledge of his Oregon State decision
Gary Andersen didn't tell his son he was in negotiations with Oregon State until the decision was done and ready to be public knowledge.
Andersen's son, Chasen, is a freshman walk-on linebacker for the Badgers. Andersen, who told Wisconsin last week that he was leaving the Badgers to replace Mike Riley as head coach of the Beavers, kept the decision a secret from his son and informed him when he told the rest of the team.
"It was hard for Chasen. I felt like he needed to be educated in that process," Andersen said on the Jim Rome Show on Tuesday via CoachingSearch.com. "He was on that team and part of that team, and I wanted Chasen to be educated in that process the way the rest of the team was. He is a young man now. He is not a 13 or 14-year-old kid. He is not going to be living with us here, he's out on his own. He was given an opportunity to hear it just like the rest of the team was. I think that took him a little bit by surprise, and I get that, but that is just what I thought was best as a dad and I thought that was best as a coach."
You can listen to audio of the interview here.
Andersen's explanation makes sense, doesn't it? While there are certain things that the son of a coach would know that other players don't, you can't fault him for wanting to treat his son as part of the team. And besides, had Chasen known of Andersen's decision, he could have potentially been put in an uncomfortable spot of having to withhold information from his teammates and tiptoe around the subject.
There's no danger of the sitatuon repeating itself, however. Gary Andersen said in the interview that Chasen is transferring to Utah State, the place Gary coached before moving to Wisconsin.
For more Oregon State news, visit BeaverBlitz.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
