Oklahoma assistant Jay Boulware responds to Wisconsin’s Gary Andersen

NORMAN — Earlier this week, Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen expressed his disappointment that tight ends and special teams coach Jay Boulware left his program after only two months to take the same position at Oklahoma.

“It’s upsetting,” Andersen said. “I brought the wrong guy in here. … I don’t like the timing of it. I don’t like the situation at all.”

Asked about Andersen’s comments Wednesday, Boulware said his decision was all about family.

Boulware, who was born in Oklahoma City and played college football at Texas, still has lots of family in the Sooner State. His mother lives in Texas.

Just before he accepted the Wisconsin job, his aunt was hit by a car in Oklahoma, Boulware said. He remembered his mother calling him in distress because she couldn’t get from Texas to Oklahoma to check on her sister.

He said his aunt, who is around 60-years old, is doing better, but is now paralyzed.

“I live by that creed … it’s my faith; it’s my family; and then it’s football,” Boulware said. “(Andersen has) gotta run his program. He’s gotta do what’s best for him at Wisconsin. But again, it’s faith, family and football. And I think most people understand that.”