Category: Athletics

Blake Sorensen, from Eden Prairie, Minn., has signed a free-agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

If Russell Wilson leads the University of Wisconsin to a Big Ten football title, Tom O?Brien pledges to be cheering for his former quarterback all the way, with no regrets about what might have been. At the ACC preseason media gathering Tuesday, the North Carolina State coach was barraged by a series of questions regarding Wilson, who landed in Madison this summer in one of the more unusual developments in recent college football history.

It wasn?t until he interned for the Madison Mallards in 2003 following his junior year at UW-Madison that Caloia decided he wanted to run a baseball team. Despite being just 29 years old, he has been doing that for the past two years as the general manager of the Mallards, a summer college baseball team that competes in the Northwoods League.

The No.?1 benefit for a player not taken in the NFL draft is the ability to choose the team that might offer the best opportunity to win a roster spot.For former Wisconsin quarterback Scott Tolzien, that team is the San Diego Chargers.

David Gilreath probably spoke for the rest of the NFL?s undrafted rookie free agent class Tuesday afternoon when he took some time to reflect on a 24-hour stretch of chaos that followed three months of agonizing uncertainty.

?I?m just relieved,? the former University of Wisconsin wide receiver/returner said after signing with the Indianapolis Colts. ?To finally get a chance to sign somewhere and be somewhere instead of playing the waiting game, it?s definitely a relief right now.? Gilreath wasn?t the only former UW player to find a home Tuesday.

It wasn?t an overly long conversation but it was a rather revealing one.

Former University of Wisconsin Badgers are being snapped up by some NFL teams during a free-agent frenzy that started Tuesday.

Wisconsin football fans who still blame the UW coaching staff – specifically head coach Bret Bielema – for the Badgers? loss in the Rose Bowl might want to avert their eyes and skip the next few paragraphs.

According to reporters who cover the Big Ten Conference, Bielema is the league?s best coach entering the 2011 season.

The University of Wisconsin football team was the overwhelming choice to win the Big Ten Conference?s Leaders Division in a media poll released on Monday. But given the media?s track record at picking the conference race, that might not be a good thing for the Badgers.

Barry Davis is highly regarded by his University of Wisconsin coaching peers, which helps explain the list of supporters for a Badgers wrestling fundraiser July 25.

Chris Meyer may have grown up in Minnesota, but he is making himself at home at Maple Bluff Country Club in Madison. After three rounds, he is the sole leader of the 110th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship sponsored by Clifton Gunderson.

Meyer, who will be a junior on the University of Wisconsin men?s golf team this fall, shot a 2-under par 69 during the third round to get to 1-under for the championship. His home club, University Ridge, is also the home course for the team.

The University of Wisconsin is one the largest universities in the country with an undergraduate population of around 43,000.

Unlike the many students who blend in among the throngs of people living in Madison, two Cincinnati Country Day School graduates have managed to make a splash. Meredith Freshley, a 2009 graduate of CCD, and Emily Finch (2010), helped the Badgers win the International Rowing Association?s national championship in the lightweight four-woman rowing division last June.

Barry Alvarez has coached premier offensive tackles at the University of Wisconsin who went on to prominent NFL careers. So what does Alvarez, who is now the athletic director at Wisconsin, think of Bears first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi? “He will be a good citizen. He will be a guy who will be a good locker room guy. He will be a guy who will be involved in the community. And besides that, he?s a good player. He fits the mold of some of our better offensive linemen. I think that?s a good selection by the Bears.”

The look in Gabe Carimi?s eyes told Bret Bielema all he needed to know. As the Wisconsin coach leaned back in his office chair last week, he recalled the message Carimi, the Bears? first-round draft pick, emphatically relayed before last season?s game with Iowa “Gabe took control.” Bielema has no doubt the mammoth offensive tackle will have just as much of an impact with the Bears once he gets used to the system – no matter which side of line he ends up playing.

Barry Alvarez has coached premier offensive tackles at the University of Wisconsin who went on to prominent NFL careers.

Joe Thomas, a four-time Pro Bowl selection of the Browns, and Mark Tauscher, a 12-year standout for the Packers, are former Badgers. So what does Alvarez, who is now the athletic director at Wisconsin, think of Bears first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi?

The latest issue of Red Line Report, an independent international scouting service, ranks the top college recruiting class for 2011-12. The University of Wisconsin men?s team sits sixth, but an overview is needed to appreciate it. RLR makes its assessment based on talent its scouts view as NHL caliber. To that end, the publication referenced three UW recruits who were chosen in the NHL Entry Draft last month….

One can only wonder what?s wrong with the UW-Madison Athletic Department, or what its hidden agenda is against reinstating baseball, our national pastime…For UW-Madison not to carry men?s baseball in its athletic programming is a travesty and embarrassment to fans and supporters.

It would be prudent for the Big Ten Conference to rethink its playoff format for men?s hockey when it debuts in 2013-14. The six league members voted recently for a model that spans two weekends. The first would feature the bottom four seeds playing a best-of-three series to advance to the semifinals. The second weekend would have the semis and championship game being staged at the home of the No. 1 seed. That has merit, but recent developments in the college hockey hierarchy strongly suggest the plan be reconsidered.

Barry Alvarez, the University of Wisconsin athletic director, will receive $1 million in annual compensation under a new, five-year contract approved Friday by the UW Board of Regents.

UW is coming off a co-Big Ten title and Rose Bowl appearance last season. The school just landed high-profile transfer quarterback Russell Wilson, beating out defending national champion Auburn in the process. And recruiting for 2012 is off to one of the best starts in recent memory.

Calling it a “culmination” of a stellar coaching career that helped him turn around an awful University of Wisconsin football program, Barry Alvarez was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

It?s not terribly unusual when the University of Wisconsin chancellor crosses paths with a prospective student-athlete visiting the Madison campus. It?s been known to happen when recruits, regardless of sport, attend high-profile games at Camp Randall Stadium, the Kohl Center or the UW Field House. If the chancellor is on hand, introductions invariably come to life. But when high-profile quarterback Russell Wilson came to Madison in June to check out the Badgers football program, he didn?t just shake hands with UW chancellor Biddy Martin. He actually stopped by her Bascom Hall office, shared a hug and exchanged friendly small talk.

Nostalgia often tugs on the sleeve of Barry Alvarez as another fall Saturday fades into a crisp upper-Midwest sky.

Craig Smith, the Badgers? leading goal scorer in 2010-11, will bypass his final two college seasons to sign with Nashville.

Growing unrest in the most dominant organization in men?s college hockey paved the way for the creation of a brand new league. Five members of the once-formidable Western Collegiate Hockey Association made it official Wednesday when their representatives gathered in a Colorado Springs, Colo., landmark and outlined plans for a new league scheduled to be up and running in 2013-14. The National Collegiate Hockey Conference includes Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota from the WCHA and Central Collegiate Hockey Association power Miami (Ohio). Their exodus was mapped out less than four months after it was announced Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin will leave the WCHA to join the new Big Ten Conference, also debuting in 2013-14.

The newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference was introduced Wednesday during a press conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. Five members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association men?s league — Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota — will hook up with Miami Ohio of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to begin play in 2013-14.

University of Wisconsin assistant football coaches drew an average base salary of $182,300 during 2010-11, which pales greatly in comparison to their counterparts in the Southeastern Conference, according to a recent story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

This is shaping up to be a volcanic summer for men?s college hockey, its coast-to-coast landscape being scorched with no obvious outcome, good or bad.

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will consider a new contract for UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez next week that will push his compensation to $1 million.

University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has a new five-year contract that will keep him among the highest-paid at his position in the nation. Alvarez signed an extension in February that will carry through to Jan. 31, 2016. He will receive $1 million in annual compensation starting in 2011-12, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the financial details must be approved by the UW Board of Regents at their meeting July 14 and 15.

Just because Russell Wilson was a successful quarterback at North Carolina State the last three years doesn?t guarantee he will put up the same numbers with the University of Wisconsin this season. In fact, after crunching some numbers, ESPN Insider KC Joyner predicts Wilson will be a disappointment for the Badgers.

Heather Bowe?s dream was to play basketball at the Kohl Center. It?s a dream she realized in March when she led her Eau Claire Regis team to the WIAA Division 4 state title. But her home court in college will be somewhere other than the Kohl Center.

Bowe, who committed to former University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coach Lisa Stone following her freshman season at Regis, was told by new coach Bobbie Kelsey that the scholarship offer had been withdrawn.

The University of Wisconsin football team had to fight a lot of perceptions in the successful recruitment of former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson. One of the biggest was summed up by veteran college football writer Stewart Mandel of SI.com in an interview last week.

?He?s so not the traditional Wisconsin quarterback,? Mandel said after Wilson announced he was transferring to UW.

In sports columnist Andy Baggot?s recent commentary on UW-Madison baseball, Title IX requirements and money were given as reasons for not carrying baseball…Come on! This is baseball, not some minor sport.

To fans, Russell Wilson might be Wisconsin?s ticket back to Rose Bowl – or even more.To his new teammates, the former North Carolina State quarterback will arrive on campus as the presumptive starter this season. Coach Bret Bielema already is trying to keep expectations under control.

The quarterback might be the real deal and lead UW to a great season, but it?s no sure thing.

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema has never been through a recruiting process like the one that landed North Carolina State transfer quarterback Russell Wilson. It?s unlikely Bielema will go through anything like it again. Bielema kept using the word “unique” during a news conference Tuesday to describe the two-month courtship that landed the Badgers their likely starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

Time will tell if Russell Wilson fills the quarterback void for Wisconsin, but the Badgers? latest recruit talks a good game. In a conference call Monday, the former North Carolina State signal caller came across as mature and levelheaded while displaying a balance of confidence and humility that should serve him well as he navigates a new locker room and pursues the starting job at the team?s highest-profile position.

By turning his back on professional baseball and rejecting national champion Auburn in order to play his final college football season at UW, quarterback Russell Wilson shifted the balance of power in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Reaction to Wilson?s announcement made national headlines, with many pundits calling UW the new favorite in the Big Ten and a legitimate national title contender.

MADISON (WKOW) — Russell Wilson has committed to Wisconsin and plans to play football for the Badgers and attend graduate school at UW beginning this fall, head coach Bret Bielema announced Monday. The UW Athletic Department released the following statement on Wilson.

“Russell will come in and compete for the starting quarterback position,” Bielema said. “This is an unusual situation, especially for a program that prides itself on developing players throughout their careers, as we do here at Wisconsin. However, this is a special situation and Russell is the type of player and person that fits very well with our team.”

Russell Wilson will play his final season of college football at the University of Wisconsin. The sought-after quarterback had been weighing offers from the Badgers and Auburn against a continued career in minor league baseball.

“Russell will come in and compete for the starting quarterback position,” UW coach Bret Bielema said in a statement Monday.

University of Wisconsin men?s hockey coach Mike Eaves dispelled two East Coast newspaper reports that he was being considered for the NHL opening at New Jersey. Eaves said Monday he?s had no contact with the Devils or any other NHL team about leaving his alma mater, where he?s coached since 2002.

Scratch another of the 2012 recruits for the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team. At least for the moment. Whitney Tinjum, a 6-foot-1 wing player from Chisago Lakes Area High School in Minnesota, has decommitted from the UW program to open up her recruiting heading into the July evaluation period.

There are many valid reasons behind the Big Ten Conference?s decision to form a six-team men?s hockey league that will start in 2013-14. With traditionally strong programs at Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin, the conference should become a hockey power. The name recognition of those schools along with Ohio State and hockey newcomer Penn State could raise the profile of hockey nationally and give it a stronger voice in the NCAA. Finally, it will provide much-needed live programming for the Big Ten Network. Nationally, however, the perception of the conference is a bit different.

Bucks general manager John Hammond said it was pretty much a no-brainer when the University of Wisconsin?s Jon Leuer was still available to them with the 40th overall pick in Thursday?s NBA draft.

ST. FRANCIS ? Jon Leuer smiled Tuesday afternoon when he was asked if he thought the Milwaukee Bucks were interested in drafting him.

“I hope so,” the 6-foot-11 forward responded enthusiastically. He got his wish. The Bucks used their second-round pick ? and 40th overall ? to select the former University of Wisconsin men?s basketball standout Thursday night in the NBA draft.

Here?s one way to measure the entertainment value of the University of Wisconsin football team heading into the new season: At $49, it will charge one of the lowest single-game ticket prices in the newly expanded Big Ten Conference. ?I?m surprised, quite frankly,? UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said, alluding to the sizeable gap between schools at the top and bottom of the list.

University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic director Barry Alvarez will make an appearance with Mike Ditka on an episode of HBO?s “Entourage” this season, Ditka said in a radio interview.

The impressive start to the University of Wisconsin football team?s 2012 recruiting class has yet to make a big splash on the national scene. Blame that on its consistent success over the years, despite recruiting classes that rarely finish in the top 25 nationally.

“I don?t really care how Wisconsin is recruiting ? is the easiest way I can put it,” said Scott Kennedy, the national director of scouting for Scout.com. They?re going to be good.

MADISON (WKOW) – Wisconsin championship women?s hockey team is losing assistant coach Tracey DeKeyser, head coach Mark Johnson announced today. DeKeyser has been with the program since it started in 1998-99, and has done everything from recruit to serve as coach during Johnson?s one-year sabbatical to coach the 2010 U.S. women?s Olympic team.