Mick Byrne made it clear his impending retirement was not a revelation. Instead, some alarms went off for the University of Wisconsin cross country and track coach.
In late November, a handful of days after the NCAA men’s and women’s cross-country championships, Byrne had triple bypass heart surgery.
In a seismic shakeup at the top of the Wisconsin athletics department, athletic director Chris McIntosh recently announced his departure from the role to join the Big Ten conference in an administrative capacity.
Wisconsin legend Barry Alvarez was just as surprised as anybody.
Marcus Sedberry’s grown used to being pulled in many directions.
He enjoys that each day of his career as a University of Wisconsin administrator throws new challenges his way. The biggest curveball of his tenure in Madison came over the past week when Sedberry learned his job was about to change entirely.
It was Marcus Sedberry’s first public meeting as interim athletic director of the University of Wisconsin.
But Wednesday’s Athletic Board meeting was a farewell, too: UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin delivered her final address to the group that’s tasked with oversight of the athletic department.
The University of Wisconsin athletic department is budgeting for around $2 million less in football ticket revenue for the 2026 season than it earned in 2025.
That was one of the takeaways from a department budget request, approved Wednesday by the Athletic Board, that exceeded $200 million for the first time.
Chris McIntosh said he had “very mixed emotions” in resigning from the University of Wisconsin athletic director position.
McIntosh emailed UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and her chief of staff and senior adviser Jennifer Noyes a four-paragraph resignation message Sunday night.
Mick Byrne had a lot to live up to when he arrived at the University of Wisconsin in 2008.
Byrne took over a Badgers men’s cross country program that had won nine straight Big Ten championships and had each of its previous three coaches bring home an NCAA championship.
There’s no definitive timeline yet on the search for a new University of Wisconsin athletic director.
Chris McIntosh’s departure to become deputy commissioner for strategy at the Big Ten Conference was kept quiet until Sunday. The conference and Wisconsin confirmed it with a Monday morning announcement.
Wisconsin hockey is leaving Las Vegas without the national championship trophy after falling to Denver 2-1 in the title game on April 11.
The Badgers dominated the shots on goal but after a first-period goal they couldn’t find the back of the net again, while Denver’s two third-period goals lifted the Pioneers to their 11th national championship and third in the last five years.
Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh is slated to resign from his position immediately and join the Big Ten as its newly created deputy commissioner for strategy, SBJ has learned. McIntosh will report directly to Commissioner Tony Petitti, while his role will focus on shaping the broad strategy of the league. Wisconsin Deputy AD/COO Marcus Sedberry is likely to be named interim AD, sources told SBJ, though immediate succession plans are fluid. McIntosh was in Las Vegas over the weekend for UW men’s hockey’s Frozen Four appearance and flew back to Madison on Sunday. The Badgers lost 2-1 to Denver in the national title game on Saturday night.
This season has provided moments where the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team showed it could be a Frozen Four team and others where it appeared the Badgers could miss the NCAA Tournament altogether.
The detailed, energetic Badgers team that took the ice Thursday carried it into the national championship game.
Governor Tony Evers signed a bill Wednesday that gave the University of Wisconsin athletic department financial cushion in the form of tax dollars to service debt, and codified the university’s rules surrounding name, image, and likeness payments to athletes into law.
After her 122nd and final game for the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, dynamo point guard Ronnie Porter fielded a question on her legacy.
The Badgers had just lost 67-50 to Columbia in Monday’s semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
UW-Madison’s women’s sports teams will soon have some extra branding on their jerseys.
UW Health on Thursday announced it would become the official jersey patch sponsor for the Badgers women’s squads. The healthcare provider’s logo will appear on basketball, volleyball, hockey and softball uniforms beginning with the 2026-27 season.
Wisconsin Football announced the death of Jack Pugh, a former football player who graduated from UW-Madison in 2025.
In a recent post from Wisconsin Football on Facebook, they remember him as a positive and genuine light who cared about people.
The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team forced six Columbia turnovers in a row to fuel a run in the fourth quarter to shrink its deficit to eight points with nearly seven minutes left.
But the Badgers’ surge was short-lived. The Lions went on a run of their own to pull ahead by double digits once more.
People with sensitive ears might have had trouble with some of the things Luke Osburn said when he got back to the bench at one point in Saturday’s University of Wisconsin men’s game.
Coach Mike Hastings said he was glad there weren’t microphones in that area.
“Let’s just say he wasn’t politically correct,” Hastings said.
Wisconsin women’s basketball is off to its first postseason tournament semifinal since 2007, according to UW Athletics.
The Badgers staged a furious comeback in the final minute of regulation to force overtime, then defeated Harvard 64-61 in the extra period.
On Sunday, Wisconsin (34-2-1) won 3-2 against top-seeded Ohio State in the NCAA Frozen Four tournament.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers took an early lead in the first period and maintained a two goal lead for a majority of the game. Forward Kelly Gorbatenko scored first, followed by defender Laney Potter. That is until the third period, when Ohio State made up for lost time with two goals.
It would have been out of character for Nick Boyd to appear dejected.
The fifth-year guard’s college career had just ended, the No. 5 seed University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team falling in stunning fashion, 83-82, to No. 12 seed High Point in the NCAA Tournament’s First Round on Thursday in the Moda Center. But Boyd said the moment doesn’t define his career. Even if it was his layup at the rim that was blocked with four seconds left, which ended up being Wisconsin’s last chance at avoiding an upset loss.
It’s not difficult to know whose building the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team is in for the Frozen Four.
Most of the Penn State branding inside Pegula Ice Arena has been covered with NCAA or Frozen Four logos but the giant “Welcome to Hockey Valley” lettering and Penn State banners still hang over the rink.
Morning workouts. Skills training. The weight room. Watching game tape. They’re all part of the program for college athletes.
University of Wisconsin-Madison athletes have one more item on their training list: meditation.
Chad McGehee tells athletes that meditation is “strength and conditioning for the mind.”
Taxpayers in Wisconsin could soon be putting more money towards UW-Madison.
A bill would make taxpayers pay for UW Athletic facilities freeing up money for NIL deals for student-athletes.
Gov. Tony Evers will decide if the NIL bill becomes a law or not and he stated that he supports the goal of this bill.
Wisconsin residents spoke out on how they felt about the bill.
“I think our taxes should be going to other things, especially since they’re so high.” said resident Sufiyah Siddique.
In a rare moment of drama in the Senate Tuesday, a bill that would give the UW-Madison athletics department millions to pay down debt and free up other money for revenue-sharing with players passed by a single vote that changed just as the legislation appeared doomed.
The Wisconsin Badgers are one step closer to receiving taxpayer support as they adapt to the changing college sports landscape.
With a one-vote margin, the state Senate on March 17 approved a bill to provide taxpayer funding for athletic facility debt service and formalize rules around name, image and likeness. Eleven Republicans and six Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while seven Republicans and nine Democrats voted against it.
Following the sports and money theme, the Senate will also consider a bill that would give more than $14 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for athletic facility costs in order to offset the money the school pays student athletes in NIL deals.
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh remains optimistic about the outlook of proposed legislation that would provide taxpayer support for athletic facility debt service and codify rules around name, image and likeness.
“I think there’s a tremendous amount of receptivity to the bill and what’s in the bill,” McIntosh said.
One of the groups experiencing the “Wild West” of current college athletics wants even less oversight.
Big Ten Conference leaders want the NCAA to pause investigations and possible punishments against teams for tampering with athletes around transfer portal windows, according to a letter sent by the Big Ten to the NCAA that was obtained Wednesday by ESPN. The conference, which includes the University of Wisconsin, believes the rules regarding contact with transfers can’t keep up with the rest of the changes made to the landscape of college sports.
Caroline Harvey’s mantel is stacked with awards.
The University of Wisconsin senior defender was recently named the most valuable player at the Olympics after helping Team USA win the gold medal. She also claimed player and defender of the year distinction in the WCHA.
Could the Patty Kazmaier Award be next?
The USA Hockey Foundation announced Wednesday, March 11 its three finalists for the 2026 award, which is given annually to the top women’s college hockey player. Harvey made the cut, as did fellow Olympians Abbey Murphy of Minnesota and Tessa Janecke of Penn State.
If Harvey wins it would mark the second time Badgers player won the award in consecutive years. Casey O’Brien was the winner last season. UW’s Meghan Duggan and Brianna Decker won in 2011 and ’12.
Wisconsin lawmakers moved closer to providing millions in taxpayer funding to help the University of Wisconsin-Madison athletics department compete in the evolving landscape of college sports name, image and likeness programs.
The Joint Finance Committee approved Bill 1034 on Wednesday afternoon in an 8-5 bipartisan vote, advancing legislation that would allocate $14.6 million to UW athletics. The bill could reach the Senate floor as soon as next week.
Wisconsin lawmakers are advancing a bill through the Senate that would place policies in statute and provide funding to help the University of Wisconsin navigate changes in college sports allowing student athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness (NIL).
The Legislature’s budget committee voted Wednesday to give more than $14 million a year to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for athletic facilities costs as the sports powerhouse pays student athletes for “name, image, likeness” deals, known as NIL.
But the vote on the GOP-led Joint Finance Committee suggests the legislation will require Democratic votes to get over the finish line in the Senate.
If state lawmakers don’t pass a college sports bill in the coming weeks, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s athletics department anticipates facing difficult financial decisions.
“Either we will need to reevaluate our expectations on the success of our sports, or we will need to reevaluate how they’re supported or how many of them exist,” Chris McIntosh, UW-Madison’s athletics director, said at a legislative hearing this month.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Athletic Hall of Fame will have a new, permanent home outside of the Kohl Center, according to a UW Athletics press release. Construction is set to begin early spring and be completed in time for the 2026 Hall class next September.
Wisconsin native JJ Watt will be forever enshrined in the place where he became an NFL superstar. Watt was named the first member of the Houston Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026 Thursday, the Harris County Sports Authority announced.
Kelly Sheffield has a simple philosophy written on the walls of the Wisconsin volleyball locker room: When you’re at Wisconsin, championships are the expectation.
“We’re also trying to compete for championships. And we got that written downstairs in our locker room,” Sheffield said. “When you’re here at Wisconsin, that is the expectation, and that we’re all in it and it energizes all of us. We’re all in it together.”
On Wisconsin! University of Wisconsin-Madison announced the date of this year’s homecoming game on Tuesday. (video)
“It’s a huge problem,” UW-Madison journalism professor Katy Culver said about the sheer volume of artificial intelligence-fueled misinformation online. “It predates AI, but AI is making the information more believable for a lot of people.”
Kirsten Simms and Ava McNaughton were eager to get back on the ice less than 12 hours after the end of their journey from Milan to Madison. Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey were eager to give themselves a day off before getting back into the routine with the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team.
After a self-scout on the preparation of scouting reports and how they’re communicated, University of Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard opted for change.
“We changed some things early in the year in terms of the process,” Gard explained, “and tried to streamline the whole process a little bit better.”
Braeden Carrington’s situation sometimes requires him to get creative.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team was preparing for a 12-day road trip in late November. It was Carrington’s first trip with his new team, and he was out of options.
Name and likeness of college athletes
The bill, if signed into law, would formalize rules around name, image and likeness opportunities for college athletes in the state while providing taxpayer funding for athletic facility maintenance.
UW-Madison, the one power-conference athletic department in the University of Wisconsin System, would receive $14.6 million of taxpayer money annually for debt service for maintaining its athletic facilities. UW-Milwaukee would receive $200,000 for debt service and maintenance for the Klotsche Center, and UW-Green Bay would receive $200,000 for debt service for its athletic facilities.
The regular season ended the same way it started, with the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team atop the national rankings.
University of Wisconsin- Madison players have returned from their trip to the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
Team USA Women’s Hockey won gold in the Games against Canada in an overtime win February 19.
Taxpayers, the University of Wisconsin is desperate for your help. Athletic director Chris McIntosh made that perfectly clear last week while backing a bill that is making its way through the state Assembly.
How exactly will the $14.6 million McIntosh wants annually from the state — no, he needs from the state — be put to use as part of Assembly Bill 1034? Silly people of Wisconsin, that’s not for you to know.
Taxpayers, the University of Wisconsin is desperate for your help. Athletic director Chris McIntosh made that perfectly clear last week while backing a bill that is making its way through the state Assembly.
Madison-area hockey fans cheered on the Team USA women’s team Monday afternoon as they took on Sweden in the semifinals of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
The University of Wisconsin athletic department traditionally has been self-supporting financially, but that could change under a bill going through the state Assembly. Wisconsin would get $14.6 million annually from the state toward athletics facilities debt service under a measure that also would codify in state law name, image and likeness policies already in place at the school.
In addition to the UW-Madison hockey players competing in the Winter Olympics for the gold medal, five other Wisconsin athletes are competing. See how they’re doing.
UW-Madison is looking for an additional $14.6 million from taxpayers annually to maintain its athletics facilities.
But the state’s flagship public university also wants to ensure that name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts for the student athletes who train in them — and all other Badgers athletes — aren’t viewable by the public. Legislators on the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Feb. 11 unanimously passed a bill which would exempt NIL contracts and revenue sharing for any UW campus from Wisconsin’s public records law.
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team gathered tonight for a meaningful celebration of resilience, faith, and community as they attended a premiere.
Forty-six years ago, on an ice rink in Lake Placid, New York, the United States shocked the world.
Thomas Aponte grew up in Connecticut, where people eat hot dogs more than bratwursts, but he’s learned to enjoy a good brat.
As a marketing intern for Wisconsin Athletics, the UW-Madison sophomore also has been enjoying his new role: running the Brat Blaster, which joined the T-shirt cannon this season in flinging projectiles into the stands during Badgers basketball games at the Kohl Center.
Luke Fickell’s request for “blind faith” from his first offseason as the University of Wisconsin football coach remains partially in effect.
The faith nowadays isn’t as blind as it is forgiving for Fickell and a Badgers staff that haven’t done their jobs at Wisconsin well enough to earn many passes with a 17-21 record and 10-17 mark in Big Ten Conference play. But the person tasked with assessing Fickell’s job with the program, athletic director Chris McIntosh, maintains his trust and belief in Fickell after a transformational offseason that saw nearly half the roster turn over.
The powerhouse Badger program has a knack for churning out Olympic hockey players. Four current and two former Badgers are in Milan representing Team USA in women’s ice hockey. With 23 players on the roster, that means more than one-quarter of the team has played for Madison. Along with Harvey, Simms and McNaughton, forward-turned defender and current Badger Laila Edwards is part of the team. Alumna forward Britta Curl-Salemme and five-time Olympian and forward Hilary Knight round out the Badgers’ representation.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is celebrating Badgers competing on the international stage with a Winter Olympics watch event on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
The University of Wisconsin athletic department hasn’t made scheduled payments toward a $20 million, interest-free loan from central campus in the last two fiscal years.
It also won’t make payments toward more than $15 million in remaining debt on the loan in the next two years but faces no penalty for delaying repayment.
Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell did not receive the usual approval for a contract extension following the Badgers’ disappointing 2025 season.
The UW athletic board approved one-year extensions for the Badgers’ other coaches of fall sports – a longstanding common practice by the athletic department – but Fickell did not receive an extension at the board’s bimonthly meeting Feb. 4.
The UW Athletic Board has approved contract extensions for three University of Wisconsin head coaches.
Volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield, women’s soccer coach Paula Wilkins, and men’s soccer coach Neil Jones all received extensions to their five-year agreements, now running through January 31, 2031.
The University of Wisconsin has a practice where athletic contracts for coaches that include predetermined extensions, providing a level of security and continuity for the programs. Recently, Kelly Sheffield, along with the coaches for the men’s and women’s soccer teams, received their contract extensions, continuing their tenure with the Badgers.
