After giving up more than 30 points in six games last season, the Wisconsin Badgers are focusing on improving their defense this off-season.

Head Coach Bret Bielema is concentrating the Badgers’ off-season workouts on getting the program’s D back to where it was in 2006, which ranked second nationally in scoring (12.1 ppg) and fifth in yards allowed (253.1 ypg).

The Badgers (9-4 SU, 5-3 Big Ten) were ranked No. 24 last season and won their first five games. But their defensive weaknesses became more apparent and culminated in a 38-7 loss at Penn State that all but eliminated Wisconsin from the league title race.

Days after Wisconsin's Outback Bowl loss to Tennessee, Bielema fired defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz and promoted Dave Doeren, who shared coordinating duties with Hankwitz.

"I had to do it because it's what I believed in," Bielema said. "Bottom line, we needed to take a step forward and be more on the same page, more detail-oriented. That's why I made the decision.”
 
This spring, Doeren is overseeing a group that returns nine starters, including all three linebackers and all-conference defensive end Matt Shaughnessy.

Doeren came to Wisconsin from Kansas, where he had served as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2002-05. Bielema came to Wisconsin from Kansas State, where he had served as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2002-03.