Almost impossible to overstate the impact Alvarez had at Wisconsin

I don’t remember all the details, but I know I was a senior in high school and the Orange Bowl was on TV on Jan. 1, 1990 when news was breaking that Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator was leaving his team right after the game to become the new head football coach at the University of Wisconsin.

The Fighting Irish won that game, beating Colorado, who was aiming to clinch the national championship, 216. The next day, the Barry Alvarez era started at Wisconsin football.

Nothing related to the Badgers has been the same since that day.

Alvarez left the football sidelines –– except for two stand-in bowl game appearances –– after the 2005 season. It became official Tuesday that he will leave as UW’s athletic director June 30.

Vince Lombardi will probably always be regarded as Wisconsin’s largest larger- than-life coaching personality and program saver in the state’s sports history. But what Alvarez did, not just for the Wisconsin football team, but for the entire athletic program and the university is just as immeasurable.

Of course, it started on the football side. I do remember back in December of 1989 there were rumors the Badgers’ main target for the coaching job was Don Nehlen, who had done some pretty good things with the West Virginia Mountaineers in the 1980s. I had never heard of Alvarez, but as a high school kid who basically just wanted to see teams like Miami and Michigan lose, it’s not like I followed college assistant coaches at the time.

Anyone who follows Badgers athletics knows the swagger Alvarez brought to his introductory news conference. His statement that fans “better get their season tickets now because before long they won’t be able to” will live forever in Madison. It would’ve gone down in

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infamy had he failed. Obviously, Alvarez did not fail.

It took Alvarez and his staff just four seasons to transform the football Badgers, who were a 1-10 joke that attracted just 29,000 fans to cavernous Camp Randall Stadium in the 1989 season finale, into a Rose Bowl champion. The 21-16 win over UCLA on Jan. 1, 1994 will always remain near the top of the list in this Wisconsin’s sports fan’s memory bank.

For a while, that moment seemed like it would be the peak for Wisconsin football. But in the 1998 and 1999 seasons, the Badgers took things a step further, winning back-to-back Rose Bowls over UCLA and Stanford. The Jan. 1, 1999 win over UCLA also remains one of my favorites. Again, the power and muscle of Wisconsin’s run game outscored the flash and dash of the Bruins in a 38-31 classic that propelled Ron Dayne into Heisman Trophy contention the next year.

In bigtime NCAA sports, football success is hugely important because full stadiums, major bowls and the name recognition that goes with success drives the rest of the athletic program. As UW’s football program stopped being the Big Ten’s punching bag, others followed. The men’s basketball team became a winner, the women’s basketball team once led the nation in attendance at the old Fieldhouse. Hockey, always a solid UW program, continued to thrive.

Wrestling and soccer have had their moments. The women’s hockey program is second to none with six NCAA titles. The women’s volleyball team is entering this year’s COVID-caused spring NCAA tournament undefeated and ranked number-one in the country.

The overall success has led to the building of the Kohl Center, the LaBahn Ice Arena and renovations to Camp Randall Stadium that have kept the 100-yearold facility one of college football’s go-to destinations.

Make no mistake, athletics serves as a selling point for major universities and triggers donations.

Already a world-class learning institution before Alvarez arrived, there’s no telling how many more top-notch students, professors, administrators were attracted to Madison just based on the higher visibility the athletic success resulted in. The Jump Around during football games looks like a lot of fun. The shots of Lake Mendota and State Street on a beautiful fall day can turn heads.

Also not to be forgotten is Alvarez was the one who brought the Motion W logo, which is now one of the most recognizable logos in college sports. Name recognition sells, right?

In the 18 years Alvarez has served as athletic director, UW has 16 team national titles and 74 conference regular-season or tournament championships. Obviously, he didn’t play a direct role in almost all of those titles, but it’s easy to argue the resources to make those championships possible wouldn’t have been there had Alvarez not landed in Madison.

Alvarez also deserves credit for establishing a recruiting philosophy that has served several UW programs well the past 30 years. The Badgers are at a point where they can go after the best of the best and, occasionally, they get some of those kids. It frustrates a lot of fans that Wisconsin doesn’t get more five-stars. But many Badger teams have been successful because they built an in-state trust and get a lot of Wisconsin’s best kids. They find hard-working, team-oriented kids that fit their systems. Walkons have made their marks. Just look at Medford’s own Ethan Hemer a decade ago. Badger fans buy into that Midwestern mentality of hard work over flash and dash. It’s produced consistent success though some fans won’t be satisfied until the football and men’s basketball teams bring home the big one.

For us in the older age groups, we still have to pinch ourselves from time to time. Sure, some big title chances have gotten away. But this kind of consistent success is something those of us so familiar with the 1970s and 80s couldn’t have ever seen coming.

Congrats to Alvarez on a well-deserved ride into the sunset and good luck to whoever replaces Alvarez. Badger fans also can’t forget to thank then chancellor Donna Shalala and athletic director Pat Richter for making the right choice during the holidays of 1989-90. *** While on the subject of college sports, hat’s off to the Baylor Bears as they clinched the NCAA men’s basketball championship Monday night by knocking off the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs in dominating fashion 86-70.

I had heard and read a lot of good things, but I hadn’t watched Baylor play until it eliminated Wisconsin in the second round of the tournament. I saw good chunks of each of the Bears’ games after that. They were impressive. They just might be the epitome of my perfect college basketball team.

Defense, rebounding, shooting and most attractive to me was the willingness to cut, pass and be team-oriented on Shots

offense was just fun to watch. Gonzaga wasn’t far behind, but I had a gut feeling the Zags wouldn’t have full tanks of gas after Saturday’s draining 93-90 overtime win over UCLA and that sure seemed to be the case when they came out flat and couldn’t seriously threaten Baylor after quickly falling behind 29-10.

Monday’s game was a rare case of the championship game coming up short of expectations. Usually the NCAA title game is pretty darn entertaining.

Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.