Tag: chris mcintosh

LOOK: Badger legend visits Wisconsin football practice

LOOK: Badger legend visits Wisconsin football practice

Wisconsin legend Barry Alvarez was in attendance for Wisconsin’s training camp practice on Wednesday.

He, athletic director Chris McIntosh and former Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio witnessed UW gear up for its 2024 slate with roughly two weeks remaining until the ensemble opens with Western Michigan on Aug. 30.

Before serving as Wisconsin’s athletic director from 2005-21, Alvarez commanded the sidelines as head football coach for UW from 1990 to 2005.

During that span, he amassed a 119–72–4 overall record and became the winningest head coach in Wisconsin football history. Alvarez was a 2010 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame.

McIntosh played offensive line during his time at Wisconsin from 1996-99 and took over for Alvarez as athletic director in 2021. Del Rio, who has served on a myriad of NFL coaching staffs, most recently as the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders (2020-2023).

The faces scattered alongside the sidelines indicate the rising anticipation for the second full year of current head coach Luke Fickell at the helm. UW went 7-6 a year ago after notching an identical record in 2022.

With OC Phil Longo and Fickell together for a second full season, the Badgers will look to lean into their continuity in an expanded 18-team conference with hopes of retuning to the AP’s top-25 in 2024.

UW-Madison inks new five-year deal with athletic director Chris McIntosh

Wisconsin inks new five-year deal with Director of Athletics

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced on Thursday that athletic director Chris McIntosh has signed a five-year contract extension to remain in that role until at least 2029.

McIntosh replaced the legendary former football coach Barry Alvarez as the Director of Athletics in 2021 after spending time both as an athlete and as a deputy athletic director under his guidance.

“The college athletics landscape is changing quickly,” McIntosh said in a news release. “I am committed to helping our student-athletes achieve both academic and athletic success in this new environment. Along with our administrative team, coaches and staff, I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead and creating more opportunities for success.”

The former offensive lineman was a member of the Wisconsin football team from 1996-1999, playing in both the 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowls. He went on to be selected in first round of the 2000 NFL draft by the Seattle Seahawks.

McIntosh returned to the university in 2014 as a member of the athletic department, working up to his current role over the years.

In his time as Director of Athletics, McIntosh has proven to be a determined and willing decision-maker, letting go long-time head coaches Paul Chryst (football) and Tony Granato (men’s hockey), replacing them with Luke Fickell and Mike Hastings respectively.

Additionally, he has been at the helm of the athletic programs as collegiate sports entered into the uncertain future of NIL, as well as the Big Ten expanding to 18 teams in 2024.

McIntosh’s extension includes a raise to $1.45 million per year, up from $1 million. That number is set to increase by $50,000 annually, as reported by USA TODAY’s Steve Berkowitz.

Wisconsin athletic director believes former Badger RB should be NCAA all-time leading rusher

Wisconsin athletic director believes former Badger RB should be all-time leading rusher

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh strongly believes Badger legend Ron Dayne should be the NCAA’s all-time rushing leader. He explained his thinking in a recent appearance on WOZN’s Zach Heilprin’s podcast “The Camp.”

The NCAA considers former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey as the career leader in rushing yards with 6,405. The kicker: Dayne’s spectacular outputs in bowl games are not recognized by the NCAA.

The NCAA first recognized bowl statistics in 2002, three years after Dayne departed Madison. If college football’s governing organization were to take this into account, Dayne would have 7,125 yards, more than 500 ahead of Texas’ Ricky Williams.

At 6,397 yards, Dayne lands second on the current list. Williams, UW’s Jonathan Taylor and Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett round out the top five.

McIntosh, who was named Wisconsin’s athletic director in July of 2021, started every game of Ron Dayne’s career at left tackle.

Here’s his take on Dayne’s situation:

“I don’t understand the methodology or thinking behind it. The statistics are available to adjust those numbers. Until that were to happen, I think it’s a fair thing for our program to take the position that he’s the all-time NCAA rushing leader.”

Nov. 13 will be the 25th anniversary of Dayne setting the NCAA Division I career rushing record against Iowa.

McIntosh also noted on “The Camp” that Wisconsin will honor his record-breaking achievement this fall.

Wisconsin misses 247Sports’ ranking of ‘college football’s most impressive facilities’

Wisconsin misses 247Sports’ ranking of ‘college football’s most impressive facilities’

Wisconsin was not included in 247Sports’ Brad Crawford’s updated ranking of college football’s most impressive facilities on Monday.

The list includes 30 programs, including the Big Ten’s Penn State (No. 30), USC (No. 29), Illinois (No. 22), Michigan (No. 18), Maryland (No. 16), Northwestern (No. 13), Nebraska (No. 8), Ohio State (No. 7) and Oregon (No. 1).

Related: Post-spring Big Ten football 2024 power rankings, starting quarterback rankings

The Badgers have seemingly fallen behind in college football’s never-ending facilities arm race. That said, the program was recently approved for a new $285 million indoor practice facility.

The project is set to replace the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center — commonly known as The Shell — and the 80-yard football practice field in the McClain Center with a new state-of-the-art facility. It is still reportedly being designed, with construction set to start in 2025.

The state of college football, and college athletics as a whole, is currently in flux. Right now, athletic departments have record revenue and minimal operating expenses due to the players not being directly paid. That money funds each schools’ other sports in most cases, or is funneled into facilities like seen in Crawford’s ranking.

Wisconsin is a ‘have’ when it comes to revenue. The Big Ten pays out record money each year thanks to its new television deal. The hope is the program’s new practice facility brings it up to the level of the other top contenders in the country.

All of these things matter when discussing how programs differentiate themselves in the eyes of recruits. While money may mean more to recruits now than it once did, facilities still play into that decision. The good news for Badgers fans: there is action being taken to ensure this ranking isn’t the same in the future.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion.

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Varsity Collective announces launch date of new Wisconsin Badgers NIL beer

The Varsity Collective’s new NIL beer will debut this week

The Varsity Collective announced that its new Varsity Golden Ale will launch on Friday, April 19 at 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Union in Madison, Wisconsin.

Proceeds of the beer will go directly toward the collective’s name, image and likeness fund for Wisconsin Badgers athletics. In short, it is an NIL beer for Badgers fans to enjoy while also supporting their favorite team.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

The beer is in partnership with Potosi Brewing Company. The collective’s announcement on X tells Badgers fans to “come grab a taste of this new, 4.0% ABV, custom beer and support Badger student-athletes while you sip!”

Wisconsin fans were predictably fired up when the partnership was first announced back in March. That excitement can finally be fulfilled when the collective’s new initiative debuts on Friday afternoon.

 

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Wisconsin named one of the most attractive schools for future conference expansion

Wisconsin named one of the most attractive schools for future conference expansion

Wisconsin football was named one of the most attractive schools for any future conference expansion, according to an article by FootballScoop.

The ranking takes into account the factors that television executives are looking for: brand value, market size and general success.

FootballScoop’s exercise took every team in the nation and power-ranked them based on if conferences were disbanded immediately and built from scratch.

Related: Power ranking all 18 Big Ten football programs after the 2023 season

Wisconsin is No. 14 on the list with a total score of 241.9.

The 13 schools ranked ahead of Wisconsin, in order: Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Georgia, Penn State, Florida, UCLA, Oklahoma, LSU and Texas A&M.

This list will be interesting to revisit if conference expansion continues in the next few years — notably with the ACC’s current struggles.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Report: Wisconsin basketball head coach Greg Gard will return for 2024-25

Report: Wisconsin basketball head coach Greg Gard will return for 2024-25

Wisconsin head basketball coach Greg Gard received a vote of confidence from athletic director Chris McIntosh and will return for 2024-25, according to a report from BadgerExtra and the Wisconsin State Journal’s Jim Polzin.

This news comes on the heels of many fans calling for change after the Badgers’ 72-61 loss to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Related: An early look at the Wisconsin basketball roster entering 2024-25

There was a legitimate argument for Wisconsin to either fire or retain the head coach. As we’ve outlined here on Badgers Wire, the benefits of bringing Gard back far outweigh the possible benefit of getting lucky with the next head coach.

Polzin reports McIntosh and Gard met earlier this week to discuss Wisconsin’s roller-coaster season. A similar meeting occurred between the Wisconsin athletic director and former football coach Paul Chryst in October of 2022, though that meeting let to Chryst’s firing and the eventual hire of Luke Fickell.

As reported, this year’s meeting resulted in the longtime Wisconsin coach returning for another season.

2024-25 will be Gard’s 10th season as Badgers head coach. He’ll enter with a 186-107 record (63.5 win percentage) and two Big Ten regular-season titles. All eyes will be on the head coach throughout next season as he and the program look to snap the program’s now seven-year Sweet 16 drought.

Gard and his staff return a promising roster in 2024-25, led by point guard Chucky Hepburn, guards John Blackwell and Max Klesmit, center Steven Crowl and incoming top recruit Daniel Freitag. That core, plus a few big moves in the transfer portal could set the Badgers up for a great season.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Wisconsin Basketball: Is NCAA Tournament success overrated?

Is NCAA Tournament success overrated when evaluating the future of the Wisconsin basketball program?

The headline is sure to cause angst among Wisconsin Badgers fans. But hear me out.

Wisconsin basketball’s 2023-24 season came to a crashing end with a 72-61 NCAA Tournament first-round loss to No. 12-seed James Madison. The loss ensured the program’s Sweet Sixteen drought would extend to seven years, and cast a dark cloud on an otherwise successful season.

Did the year have ups and big downs, and end in disappointment? Absolutely. But the program missed the NCAA Tournament entirely in 2022-23, made clear improvements in 2023-24 including the addition of St. John’s transfer guard A.J. Storr and now looks poised for a big 2024-25.

Related: If Wisconsin decides to move on from Greg Gard, who could it target as its next head coach?

This is not making excuses for an inexplicable no-show loss against James Madison, but it’s pointing out the fact that the program is not falling apart — contrary to some of the public sentiment.

That brings us to the general question: is NCAA Tournament success overrated when evaluating the health of a program? I’d argue it is.

The argument isn’t that NCAA Tournament success doesn’t matter, it clearly does. But more so is it overrated in the minds of college basketball fans.

For something to be overrated that means the public must put a disproportionate amount of importance on it. I think that’s the case here, as the sentence ‘Wisconsin hasn’t made the Sweet Sixteen since 2016-17‘ is uttered in every anti-Greg Gard discussion.

First, that sentence completely misses the context surrounding the drought.

Wisconsin’s best shot at a deep run was 2020, when the tournament was canceled. The program’s next-best look was 2022 when Johnny Davis and Chucky Hepburn suffered injuries at the worst possible time. Then it played the future national champion in Baylor in 2021, lost to an over-seeded Oregon team in 2019 and was somewhat screwed out of an NCAA Tournament birth in 2022-23 after playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.

These are not all excuses, it’s just outlining the facts of the last seven years of disappointment. It’s also not letting Greg Gard off the hook — he’ll enter 2024-25 firmly on the hot seat and needing to take a big jump forward.

Related: Evaluating the reasons for and against Wisconsin basketball firing head coach Greg Gard

But returning to the general statement: of course NCAA Tournament success is overrated. Badgers fans want to make seismic changes because the team hasn’t advanced far in a single-elimination, high-variance, mostly-random postseason structure.

Plus, Bo Ryan’s incredible run in 2014 and 2015 made it seem like Final Four trips are easily executed and should be expected every season. I’d say that’s a few bars too high for any program, let alone Wisconsin’s.

Here’s the central question: what is a bigger indicator of future success, regular-season wins or NCAA Tournament wins? Both definitely matter, but I’d argue regular-season success matters far more for the long-term outlook.

Wisconsin has won at least 20 games in five of the last six seasons, have two Big Ten regular season titles to show for it and, when looking at the big picture, have been one of the 15-20 best programs in the country over that span.

Compare that to Florida Atlantic, whose former head coach Dusty May just took the job at Michigan. The Owls made a miraculous Final Four run in 2023, but went from 2003-2022 without making the tournament once.

Wisconsin has a better long-term outlook than a program like Florida Atlantic, even if FAU ‘at least can win in the postseason.’

Again, postseason success matters. It’s the driving force of the sport. But the public overrates winning NCAA Tournament games when evaluating the future of a program — seen clearly with the collective need to fire Gard.

The Gard debate will continue on, and should. But saying ‘Wisconsin should expect Final Four trips’ is not a sustainable way to run a college basketball program.

Postseason success must be taken into account along with all the other indicators of program health — recruiting, regular-season success, etc. It isn’t the end-all, be-all when evaluating a coach’s future.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Wisconsin social media expresses displeasure with Greg Gard after Badgers latest loss

Thoughts on the state of Wisconsin basketball?

Wisconsin basketball’s February skid continued Saturday with a deflating 88-86 overtime loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Badgers (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) are a full three games behind first-place Purdue even with the Boilermakers’ Sunday loss to unranked Ohio State.

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A season that once seemed so promising — a No. 6 rank in the AP Poll, an 8-1 record in Big Ten play and a borderline 1-seed in bracketologies — is on the brink of unraveling. The Badgers are sure to be unranked in this week’s AP Poll. The Big Ten race is all-but-decided, and it feels as if an early NCAA Tournament exit looms.

There isn’t much of a positive side of the coin. But five conference games remain: vs. Maryland, at Indiana, vs. Illinois, vs. Rutgers and at Purdue. There is still a chance the team suddenly regains its January form and goes on a run into March. But, the overwhelming feeling among Badger fans is this slide will continue.

That sentiment has been shared on social media over the last 24 hours. More than anything, believe it or not, the recent losses have re-ignited the segment of the fan base that vocally opposes head coach Greg Gard.

We will litigate the head coach discussion when the season concludes, as I believe it is unfair to do so when five regular-season games, the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament loom.

But numerous Wisconsin fans on X expressed their displeasure with head coach Greg Gard after the Badgers’ loss at Iowa:

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

Badger Countdown: Legendary coach turned 76 in December

The Wisconsin football season is on the horizon as we are now 76 days from the team’s season opener Sept. 2 versus Buffalo at Camp Randall.

The Wisconsin football season is on the horizon as we are now 76 days away from the team’s season opener Sept. 2 versus Buffalo at Camp Randall. As the Badgers usher in the Luke Fickell era in Madison, the team’s all-time best coach Barry Alvarez turned 76 in December.

Alvarez is greatly responsible for the success of the Badger football program to this day, changing the team’s fortunes when he took over at head coach in 1990. Operating as their head coach from 1990-2005 (16 seasons), Alvarez posted a 117-74 overall record.

Prior to taking over, Wisconsin had gone 9-37 over the previous four seasons and although they went 1-10 in year one with Alvarez, by his fourth campaign, the Badgers were a whole new team.

In January 1994, Wisconsin defeated UCLA 21-16 in the Rose Bowl, winning the program’s first of three bowl victories in Pasadena. Later in 1999 and 2000, the Badgers won consecutive Rose Bowls. In total, in bowl games he’s coached, Wisconsin has gone 9-4 (including fill-ins in 2012 and 2014).

Alvarez is by far the most accomplished head coach in program history and after he retired from coaching the team in 2006, he went on the have an incredibly successful tenure as UW-Madison’s athletic director.

Prior to retiring as AD in 2021, Wisconsin sports teams won 16 national titles during his tenure in charge. Additionally, Badger teams won 74 conference, regular-season or tournament championships over his 15 years.

As new athletic director Chris McIntosh has shaken things up across the many programs since Alvarez retired, there’s no denying he’s been left with some hefty shoes to fill.

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