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Category: Athletics

Why this player with heavy Minnesota ties committed to play for Wisconsin women’s hockey

Wisconsin State Journal

“Just getting on campus and getting to see the school and going through the process, it became very clear to me that Wisconsin is where I wanted to be and that was going to be my home,” Emily Pohl said. “And I’m really excited about it.”

Pohl, who described herself as a power forward with a high compete level, led Hill-Murray to the Minnesota state high school championship last season as a sophomore with 41 goals and 74 points in 31 games.

UW-Madison plans to move Athletic Hall of Fame to Kohl Center

The Cap Times

While the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Athletic Hall of Fame is set to move next year, commemorative bricks purchased by Badgers fans will stay near Camp Randall Stadium, an administrator said Tuesday.

The athletics department plans to relocate the Hall of Fame outside of the Kohl Center, where the school’s basketball teams play. About a mile east of UW-Madison’s football stadium, the Kohl Center is a “prime location” on campus that attracts thousands each year, said Jason King, UW-Madison’s senior associate athletic director for capital projects and operations.

Wisconsin Badgers changed the brats they’re serving at games. Here’s the backstory

Wisconsin State Journal

Part of the shipment of food to be prepared for the next week’s University of Wisconsin football game arrived, as usual, at Camp Randall Stadium on a Thursday. The collection was short in one product that in Wisconsin almost certainly would get noticed if concession stands ran out early: There weren’t enough brats.

In the short term, a search gathered enough supply of the brats to get Wisconsin through the football season before pivoting. Over the following months, chefs went through a taste-testing process that informed how they were planning to move forward.

How salary for new Wisconsin women’s tennis coach compares to predecessor

Wisconsin State Journal

Marek Michalicka will make $125,000 this year in base salary, according to records released to BadgerExtra by the university through a public records request. This is his first college head coaching position.

He was hired for the job after Kelcy McKenna left for Southern Methodist in August just before the start of what would have been her 10th season in charge. She made $153,816 last season after starting with a $95,000 salary in 2016.

Former Wisconsin football teammates reflect on troubled ‘entertainer’ Bill Ferrario, who died at 47

Wisconsin State Journal

Bill Ferrario, a four-year starter who was part of two Big Ten Conference and Rose Bowl championship Wisconsin teams in 1999-2000, died unexpectedly early Tuesday morning. He turned 47 on Monday. Details of his death have not been publicly released, but multiple former teammates who spoke to BadgerExtra on and off the record said he lost his battle to addiction.

‘Trailblazers in Motion’ exhibit unveils progressive history of UW-Madison women’s physical education program

The Daily Cardinal

When the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a Women’s Physical Education Department in 1912, Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote. Women, only reluctantly admitted to UW-Madison in the first place, faced scientific misconceptions, double standards and restrictions from administration. But the department itself was always years ahead of its time, alumni said, from its early days to its eventual merger with the men’s program in 1976.

Will Camp Randall keep moonlighting as a music venue?

Madison Magazine

The success of this summer’s Morgan Wallen and Coldplay concerts suggests that the stage is set for the University of Wisconsin’s football stadium to continue serving as a venue for big-name acts.

The comeback is nearly three decades in the making. Before this summer, Camp Randall Stadium last held a major music concert in 1997: the year Princess Diana died, the first “Harry Potter” book was published and the WNBA debuted. On Oct. 6, The Rolling Stones thrilled more than 27,000 local fans at Camp Randall as part of their Bridges to Babylon Tour.

Badgers partner with MMSD to get students excited about reading and develop better literacy habits

WKOW - Channel 27

Badgers were spotted at Sandburg Elementary on Monday helping students get excited about reading.

The partnership between the Wisconsin Badger football program and Madison Metropolitan School District helps UW athletes give back to the community through the support of the district’s reading literacy initiative.

Barry Alvarez says Wisconsin fans are ‘spoiled rotten’ after ‘Fire Fickell’ chants

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Barry Alvarez is not a fan of the “Fire Fickell” chants that occurred during Wisconsin’s Week 4 loss to Maryland. The revered former Wisconsin football coach and athletic director made that abundantly clear during the Sept. 23 episode of ESPN Madison’s Barry Alvarez Show.

“I think it’s embarrassing,” Alvarez said. “I think it’s terrible, despicable. They’re spoiled rotten.”

Wisconsin chancellor weighs in on AD after Chris McIntosh gives support to Luke Fickell

Wisconsin State Journal

Chris McIntosh expressed his confidence in University of Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell after a second straight blowout loss Saturday.

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin now has given McIntosh, the Badgers athletic director, a public vote of confidence. Mnookin declined an interview request by BadgerExtra through a spokesperson Monday but issued a brief statement.

“We all know what a complicated time it is for college athletics,” Mnookin wrote in the statement. “Our Athletic Director, Chris McIntosh, has my full confidence as we navigate these challenges here at UW-Madison.”

Inside falling Wisconsin football attendance early in the 2025 season

Wisconsin State Journal

The announced attendance of 65,952 for the Aug. 28 opener against Miami (Ohio) was the lowest for a first home game of a season since 1992. After Wisconsin announced a 70,368 figure for the Sept. 6 game against Middle Tennessee State, its average from the first two games was down 10% from the same window of the 2024 season.

This former UW Badgers athlete says she encountered ‘toxic’ coaching. Now she’s speaking up.

Wisconsin Public Radio

Lexi Westley comes from a family of coaches and athletes. But it took what she calls a “terrifying” experience with a coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to motivate her to pursue coaching herself.

A little more than three years after coach Mackenzie Wartenberger resigned from her position as head coach of the UW-Madison women’s cross country team, Westley and four of her teammates are coming forward about what they call abusive behavior by Wartenberger.

Our view: UW athletes deserve better than abuse

Wisconsin State Journal

Badgers fans love to win. But more important than any championship are the lives and wellbeing of the student athletes in red and white. They face enormous pressure to succeed in their sports, often with scholarships and additional compensation at stake.

That’s what makes the State Journal’s recent investigation into the women’s cross country and basketball teams so troubling. Winning, or trying to, trumped the best interests of students.

What it costs to buy a beer at Camp Randall Stadium in 2025

Wisconsin State Journal

Prices might be going up elsewhere but it costs the same to buy a beer at Camp Randall Stadium this season as it did in 2024.

Cans of Coors Light, Varsity Golden Ale, Modelo and other beers were priced at $11.99 when the University of Wisconsin football team opened the 2025 season Thursday night. Other alcoholic beverages like Blue Moon, Ninja Dust and Nutrl were listed at $12.49.

The home of UW–Madison’s game day hype committee

Madison Magazine

Sure, there are other marching band houses on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus: Tuba Haus, Clarinest, Pi Palace (for the saxophones), Bone Zone (trombones). Nine in all. But only Trumpet Haus — Thaus, for short — lays claim to being the unofficial game day hype committee. This is where a lucky few trumpet players in the UW Marching Band call home.

Wisconsin men’s basketball program leader in scoring average dies at 75

Wisconsin State Journal

Clarence Sherrod, one of the top scorers in University of Wisconsin men’s basketball history, died Aug. 18. He was 75.

Sherrod was a three-year starter at guard for Wisconsin from 1969 to 1971. He was the leading scorer for the program’s 1970-71 team, a squad that averaged the most points per game in a single season in team history at 86.3 points per game.

Court seeks more information from Wisconsin football player Nyzier Fourqurean, NCAA

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 University of Wisconsin football player Nyzier Fourqurean scored a small win in court Aug. 25.

Wisconsin district judge William Conley denied part of the NCAA’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit Fourqurean filed against it in July that seeks declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief against the NCAA for its rules related to how many years a student-athlete is eligible to play NCAA Division I football.

UW-Madison scores big with $3M in alcohol sales at Camp Randall events

WKOW - Channel 27

The University of Wisconsin pulled in more than $3 million from alcohol sales at Camp Randall Stadium.

This marked the first year alcohol was sold during a full Badger football season, as well as three sold-out concerts. Patrick Herb, UW’s assistant athletic director for strategic communication, described the first year as a success both financially and operationally.

Read the lawsuit 5 former Wisconsin players filed against former coach Marisa Moseley

Wisconsin State Journal

Alexis Duckett, Krystyna Ellew, Mary Ferrito, Tara Stauffacher and Tessa Towers filed a 51-page lawsuit Friday in federal court, also accusing Moseley of retaliation and discrimination.

The former players’ lawsuit named Moseley, the Wisconsin Board of Regents and former senior associate athletic director Justin Doherty, the sport administrator for basketball, as defendants.

Businesses around Camp Randall feel impact from beer sales inside stadium

Wisconsin State Journal

The athletic department had more than $3 million in alcohol purchases from seven home games last season, the first with sales open to everyone of legal age instead of only those in suites and clubs.

The impact of expanded alcohol sales on businesses around the stadium who also sell beer wasn’t as pronounced as owners and managers feared a year ago. But the Dillises are among those feeling changes on game days.

Miami asks judge to dismiss tampering lawsuit involving former Wisconsin football cornerback

Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Miami asked a judge to dismiss or scale back a case alleging it interfered with agreements for a former University of Wisconsin football player.

Miami filed a motion Friday to dismiss a complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court in June by Wisconsin and collective VC Connect that alleged Miami tampered with cornerback Xavier Lucas.

UW-Madison hosting men’s swimming and diving for 2025-26 Olympic sports championships

Channel 3000

UW-Madison will be hosting swimming and diving squads this winter for the 2025-26 Olympic sports championships and tournaments.

The Big Ten Conference announced the dates and host sites Wednesday. The fall season is kicking off on Oct. 31 at Michigan State, with the Spartans hosting cross country championships from Nov. 6-9.

Dane Co. Regional Airport announces new, returning nonstop flights to select UW football games

Channel 3000

Heads up, Badgers fans! The Dane County Regional Airport has announced the return of nonstop flights to select University of Wisconsin-Madison football games.

These flights, as provided by Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, offer UW football fans to travel to the University of Alabama and University of Oregon.

UW Athletics coy about hosting more concerts at Camp Randall

The Cap Times

Given how well this summer’s concerts at Camp Randall Stadium were received, music fans might not have to wait another 28 years to attend another.

“The overall success of these shows demonstrates that we are capable operationally of hosting more shows and there is definitely an appetite and demand for more in the future,” said Mitchell Pinta, deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s athletics department.

Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium in Madison ranks among the top 25 college-football venues by USA TODAY

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Don’t leave your seat at the end of the third quarter,” they wrote. “That’s when Wisconsin fans ‘Jump Around’ to the 1992 House of Pain classic of the same name, often causing Camp Randall to shake and vibrate. The tradition started in 1998, took a very brief, highly controversial hiatus in 2003 and became a rallying cry during the Badgers’ development into a Big Ten powerhouse under former coaches Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema.”

J.J. Watt kept it real with the Wisconsin football team. Here is the message they took from his visit

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“I think a bunch of J.J.’s message was, in my mind, grasping on to that idea of what humble and hungry looks like, and what being an underdog really is,” Badgers coach Luke Fickell said July 23 during Big Ten media day at Mandalay Bay Resort. “He didn’t say it, but I explained it to some of the leadership guys like you know. J.J.’s whole message was ‘I just want to be proud, and right now I’m not’.”

Fear led former Wisconsin runners to wait to speak out about former coach, athletes say

Wisconsin State Journal

The team’s strong performance “stemmed a lot from us being fearful of her and if we had done bad, and also the culture that was created at practice, which honestly was a pretty high-anxiety culture,” Badgers runner Victoria Heiligenthal said. “I think it motivated people but obviously from a bad place of motivation.”

Former Badgers athletes say 2 coaches created a toxic culture, and Wisconsin knew about it

Wisconsin State Journal

On the same day in January 2022 that Mackenzie Wartenberger told her runners that she was resigning for family reasons, the University of Wisconsin sang the praises of the women’s cross country coach in a tweet.

Some members of that team said they couldn’t believe their coach was being celebrated. Five women who ran for Wartenberger told the Wisconsin State Journal in interviews that they experienced mental abuse and a toxic culture on her team. One former runner, Brogan MacDougall, and her mother reported the abuse to athletics officials and the academic side of the university.

‘It hit me hard’: How J.J. Watt’s candid message resonated with Wisconsin football

Wisconsin State Journal

J.J. Watt, a former Wisconsin All-American and one of the best defensive players in NFL history, told the players at his alma mater last week he hasn’t enjoyed being a Badgers fan lately. The energy in the air shifted as Watt delivered a message that Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell boiled down to: “I just want to be proud and right now, I’m not.”