MADISON, Wis. -- Monday afternoon, special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell met with local reporters for the first time. Part of the 16-minute availability, Mitchell touched on his position room, decision to join the staff, recruiting style and more.

Here are a handful of quick takeaways from the session.

The opportunity to join the staff at Wisconsin wasn't the first offer presented to Mitchell, who previously served as the head coach at Grand Valley State. In fact, he had multiple chances to join other programs at the FBS and FCS level. The position in Madison, though, was the "right fit" at this point in his career.

"I had some other opportunities elsewhere that weren’t really the right fit," Mitchell told reporters Monday afternoon. "That place had championship level expectations and they supported it that way. You’d be surprised by the facilities and the funding that were available at that spot. Even some opportunities at the FCS that I didn’t think were better than what I currently had.

"To me it wasn’t about the level. I was never driven about level, I was driven about being at a spot that had a chance to compete for championships and being around players, people and coaches that were high character people that I could align with. And that was the opportunity that, in my opinion, was here at Wisconsin. This place has the chance to compete for Big Ten West and Big Ten championships and hopefully beyond that. So far I can tell by the coaching staff and the players here you have a lot of high character people here and sometimes when you have adversity or things don’t go well, you don’t want to be surrounded by low character people. That’s when stuff goes bad, so my decisions were always driven by that, not by level.

"I wasn’t jumping at anything and if I would have, I wouldn’t have been there for 13 years as the head coach."

Part of what made Wisconsin the right fit for Mitchell, who had a record of 117-31 (.790) over 12 seasons with the Lakers, was the combination of people and the tradition the Badgers have. When detailing the move to join the staff, he broke it down to three main factors: the tradition, a connection with the staff and the emphasis on player development from the coaches.

"This athletic department and football team has a ton of tradition and history, and that in combination with Madison as being an awesome place to go to," Mitchell explained. "The connection piece with Mike Tressel. Had never worked with Luke Fickell but was also extremely impressed with the culture he put in place, whether that's the short time at Ohio State or obviously at Cincinnati. So the opportunity to be a part of that in an athletic department and team that has this tradition, it was just a lot of things lining up. I thought it would be great for professional growth. I'm also really relishing the opportunity right now going from 120 players as a head coach to right now my focus primarily has been the nine outside linebackers, so a lot of deeper relationships and there's been a lot of growth for me personally in the last few weeks.

"Lastly, player development is something that is critical for Coach Fickell. Brady Collins and that crew down there, I had heard a lot from the outside about how they operate. But being in the program now for six weeks, he's as good a strength coach there is in America and it's been awesome to see the emphasis with player development and trying to get those guys to grow and develop and be the best they can be."

Mitchell has an easily accessible tool in his back pocket when it comes to recruiting. The tradition that drew him in to Madison will be part of his recruiting pitch for prospects. Just this past weekend, Wisconsin alumni T.J. Watt stopped by the facilities to chat with players and talk football with them.

"When you start taking a look at the outside linebackers, the first thing you take a look at is the tradition," Mitchell said. "I used that term earlier with the tradition and history at outside linebacker at Wisconsin. You start looking at the history and tradition at Wisconsin and there is an immense amount of it at Wisconsin.

"In fact, T.J. Watt was back here on Saturday and just chopping it up with some of the outside linebackers and d-line about his experiences. So you have a lot of transition in a coaching staff and a lot of new people including the position coach, and you have an alum that comes back and is willing to engage even though there has been a change. I think that speaks a lot to the loyalty that alums have to this program, so the first thing I’m going to talk about is the history of the outside linebacker position."

Mitchell's approach is similar to his mindset when joining UW, from the staff to the academics and institution.

"Then really start to get into the tradition of the program and Madison and geting into the culture of Luke Fickell and Brady Collins," he said. "Those are two individuals that touch every player that comes in these doors every single day.

"One thing I wouldn’t say I was surprised by but what struck me is there were changes mid-season but postseason, too, and the loyalty that the current student athletes had. Specifically the outside linebackers and really welcoming in starting with Coach Fickell and then me they were really receptive.

"When you talk about the seven returners, you can sense their pride for the University of Wisconsin, the pride for Wisconsin football and they were really all in on that transformation. I think there were opportunities at some other places for guys to bounce and transfer when there’s change like that and you didn’t see that on the defensive side much, especially at outside linebacker because I think they love Wisconsin."

On the field, part of his emphasis will be a necessary versatility that he'll ask for from his outside linebackers. From dropping into coverage to rushing the passer, the players will have to be well versed in both areas.

"I think it gives us a niche when it comes to recruiting," Mitchell said. "We look for a certain individual that we think can be more diverse than a four-down team that is just having a guy play defensive end is just dropping them into coverage every time. I think that niche in recruiting has helped Wisconsin and I think it will help us moving forward."

Redshirt junior Aaron Witt hasn't had an easy go ever since joining the Wisconsin football program in 2020 and making an impact right away as a freshman. Playing in five games that season, Witt recorded a sack, a forced fumble and tackle against Wake Forest, which naturally sparked some intrigue in the outside linebacker.

An injury Witt suffered in the spring of 2021 has derailed any ability to get anything going. Specifics of his timeline and likely setbacks haven't been relayed but he has yet to get back to 100 percent since. Mitchell revealed it'll be another while until then.

"I don’t know about spring. I don’t know if we’ll get to the point where he can make contact in spring," Mitchell said. "That’s to be determined and kind of see how things. Extremely impressed by Aaron's knowledge of the game. I mean, he’s a really intelligent football player and a guy you hope to get back because the one year he did play there was some impact but it’s kind of to be determined and see how things progress."

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