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Ex-Badgers Coach Now Works As Athletic Director
May 28, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic director Barry Alvarez will be inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame, according to an announcement on Thursday morning.
"I was totally surprised when they announced that I would be inducted," said Alvarez. "I actually broke down. I was sitting with our, with my coach, Bret Bielema at the time and I think he broke down. It's an honor. It's humbling, when it's your life work and it culminates like this."
Hall of Fame officials said that the former Badgers coach joins a list of legends in the college football world in the Hall of Fame.
Alvarez coached the badgers from 1990 to 2005, winning 118 games and three Rose Bowl championships.
Before Alvarez arrived in Madison in 1990, Wisconsin compiled a 9-36 record over four seasons and attendance at Camp Randall Stadium was just over half-full for most games.
The program got a boost when new Director of Athletics Pat Richter hired Alvarez from Notre Dame, where he had been an assistant coach under Lou Holtz.
Over the next 16 seasons Alvarez transformed the football program and the culture of athletics at the UW.
Alvarez's feats are numerous. He is the winningest coach in school history (118-73-4).
He is the only Big Ten coach ever to win the Rose Bowl in Consecutive seasons (1999, 2000).
"To see what coach Alvarez has done at Wisconsin, and it's a state that I love," said fellow Hall-of-Famer Desmond Howard. "I love the state of Wisconsin. Go Pack go, but to read what (Alvarez has) been able to accomplish, I'm talking about the only coach in the Big Ten history to win back-to-back Rose Bowls. That's just unbelievable to me. For him to be able to accomplish that, we're not talking about great coaches, we're talking about legendary coaches in the Big Ten."
Alvarez was named national coach of the year in 1993 and Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1998.
Barry Alvarez is now in his fifth year as Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin and third without the additional title of head football coach. Alvarez served as A.D. and football coach from 2004-05.
