Category: Athletics

After hiring away the University of Wisconsin men?s and women?s swimming and diving coach, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne called and offered support in the Badgers? search for a replacement. As it turns out, the Wildcats also provided the new coach. In what amounted to a swap between programs, the Badgers on Monday announced the hiring of former Arizona assistant Whitney Hite as the replacement for Eric Hansen, who left a month ago to become the Wildcats? coach.

Jim Delany calls the Nebraska Cornhuskers the Green Bay Packers of the Big Ten. The Big Ten commissioner said Wednesday that the Big Ten?s attraction to Nebraska went beyond geography and a shared culture with member schools.

Former University of Wisconsin quarterback Scott Tolzien would like nothing more than to have his nose buried in an NFL playbook. Any other year and that?s likely what Tolzien would be doing, getting a head start on making an NFL roster the only way he knows how ? by preparing, studying and working as hard as he can.

As expected, Jordy Murray has opted to turn pro and forgo his senior season with the University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team.The forward, a three-year letterwinner who posted career highs with 18 goals and 26 points as a junior this past season, has signed a contract with the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the Swiss National League A.

Chicago has had its share of great athletes, Michael Jordan, Frank Thomas, and Stan Mikita to name a few. The Bears have probably the richest of the Chicago teams with players like Walter Payton, Gayle Sayers, and Dick Butkus. But it has been a while since any Chicago team has had a great Jewish athlete. The Cubs had Ken Holtzman and Steve Stone but besides those two it has been hard for Chicagoans to rally around a top Jewish star. The one Chicago Jewish athlete that has Hall of Fame status is Sid Luckman. Luckman retired in 1950 and since Chicago Jews have been searching. And with the 29th in the 2011 NFL Draft the wait might have ended. The Chicago Bears selected Gabe Carimi out of the University of Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin football program has a reputation for not being able to recruit highly ranked quarterbacks. Junior quarterback Bart Houston, from prep powerhouse De La Salle in Concord, Calif., should help change that after giving an oral commitment to the Badgers.

Nicole Elmblad, one of the prizes of former coach Lisa Stone?s 2011 recruiting class, has decided not to join the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball program. Elmblad, a 5-foot-11 guard from St. Ignace, Mich., said last month that she would request a release from her National Letter of Intent to attend UW, but was still interested in becoming a Badger. After she and her family met with new UW coach Bobbie Kelsey, Elmblad has opted not to join the UW program and received her release, allowing her to pursue other options.

MADISON (WKOW) — Remember the UW men?s basketball player Mike Bruesewitz who shaved his head on WKOW?s Wake Up Wisconsin to help raise awareness for the multiple sclerosis cause?

All the successes of the University of Wisconsin football program?s passing game in recent years haven?t quieted one of the fan base?s chief questions on the recruiting front: Why can?t the Badgers land an elite quarterback? If Bart Houston?s pedigree is any indication, that need for validation is over.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was part of the NFL Network?s coverage of the NFL Draft, which featured five Badgers selections, including two in the first round.

Bielema, Notre Dame?s Brian Kelly and North Carolina?s Butch Davis were the college coaches who provided analysis during the network?s coverage of rounds four through seven.

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin Athletic Board met Friday afternoon and approved four recommendations of the UW Department of Athletics regarding contracts for winter sports head coaches.

University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has restructured his senior staff following the departure of two top aides, the school announced Friday afternoon.

Barry Alvarez tried to shake hands with as many runners as he could at the finish line of the Crazylegs Classic Saturday morning. It was Alvarez?s way to say thank you because the money raised by the Classic goes to the University of Wisconsin athletic department. There were 19,430 registered walkers and runners in Saturday?s event that included an 8-kilometer run and a 2-mile walk. That was the second-largest number of entrants for the 30th annual event, according to Murawski.

It?s a race that attracts thousands of runners each year, and seemingly every runner has a unique reason for participating in Madison?s annual Crazylegs Classic.

After all the bills were paid, the University of Wisconsin had a positive net margin of $79,168 from the Rose Bowl.

J.J. Watt was selected with the 11th pick overall by the Houston Texans, while Gabe Carimi went to the Chicago Bears with the 29th pick overall, giving the Badgers two first-round picks for the first time since 2001.

Al Wortley is something of a celebrity when it comes to the Crazylegs Classic. No one really knows how many runners have taken part in all 29 Crazylegs prior to this year?s event, but Wortley, a retiring University of Wisconsin professor emeritus in the College of Engineering, is one. “I?ve got every one of the shirts,” said a prideful Wortley, who plans to run his 30th and final Crazylegs on Saturday.

Of course they call him ?Boomer. ?What else would the Nashville Predators call Blake Geoffrion, the progeny of Montreal Canadiens legend Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion? It?s a most obvious nickname, for a most unique player.

One person who knows the NFL Draft Day roller coaster well is former Badger and NFL Pro Bowler Al Toon.

Sports fans of Wisconsin may not know it, but they got lucky Monday when the San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings to advance in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Led by Sun Valley?s Hilary Knight, the U.S. Women?s National Team won its third straight women?s world hockey title with a 3-2 overtime victory against Canada Monday.

WASHINGTON ? Nine of the 11 members of an NCAA panel that will help decide the Fiesta Bowl?s fate attended a bowl-sponsored retreat that included free meals, resort rooms and golf outings. Barry Alvarez is included.

New University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coach Bobbie Kelsey,  a former Stanford player and an assistant coach at that national powerhouse organization for the past four years, made her intentions clear at a press conference announcing her hiring last week.

Guy Gadowsky is leaving as coach of the Princeton University hockey team to lead the new Penn State University men?s program in its first varsity season since 1946.

No matter how many people show up Saturday to watch the University of Wisconsin stage its annual spring football game at Camp Randall Stadium, I?m pretty sure I have an idea that will boost future attendance at the event. Call it what you will ? an investors? convention, a stockholders meeting, an address to Badger Nation, whatever ? but there should be an organized opportunity for season-ticket holders to get pertinent insights about the Badgers and ask questions of UW athletic director Barry Alvarez.

The Crazylegs Classic will be held this Saturday for the 30th time, and Elroy Hirsch’s widow is the grand marshal. “I can’t believe it started 30 years ago,” Ruth Hirsch, 86, said with a shake of her head. “I’m not that old.”

Concern that Mark Johnson might be lured away from the University of Wisconsin women?s hockey program dissipated Sunday. Penn State officials announced that they had hired Guy Gadowsky away from Princeton to be its first men?s hockey coach.

Concern that Mark Johnson might be lured away from the University of Wisconsin women?s hockey program dissipated Sunday. Penn State officials announced that they had hired Guy Gadowsky away from Princeton to be its first men?s hockey coach. The Nittany Lions will begin playing a NCAA Division I schedule in 2012-13 and will join a new Big Ten Conference in 2013-14.

The rags to riches saga of Pewaukee?s J.J. Watt is as inspiring as any in this National Football League draft class. On Thursday night, the journey that has taken Watt from a season as a Central Michigan tight end to a year schlepping pizzas to pay his way to the University of Wisconsin and then two seasons of exceptional play as a Badgers defensive end will culminate with his name being called high in the draft.

MADISON (WKOW) — The Crazylegs run in Madison is on April 30th. It raises money for UW Athletics.

MADISON (WKOW) — The Badgers football season is still months away, but thousands of fans were at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday for the annual Spring Game.

University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has multiple holes to fill on his personnel manifest, but he said Thursday that he?s decided how he?s going to replace his top aide. A week after UW executive associate athletic director Shawn Eichorst left to become athletic director at Miami (Fla.), Alvarez said senior associate AD Sean Frazier will be promoted.

The first Big Ten Conference football game for Nebraska will be under the lights at Camp Randall Stadium. University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said Thursday that UW will host the Cornhuskers in a night game Oct. 1 to be televised by ESPN.

Randy Marnocha, 51, is gradually getting the hang of his demanding role as the associate athletic director for business operations at UW-Madison.

Through 10 seasons as the coach of the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team, Bo Ryan has averaged more than 24 wins a season, reached the NCAA Tournament each season, won three Big Ten Conference regular-season titles and two Big Ten tournament titles.

Jim Schuman is leaving his job as the University of Wisconsin men?s golf coach so he can open a golf academy at Hawks Landing. Schuman, 47, coach of the Badgers for the past eight years, also plans to spend time working on his own game so he can qualify for the Champions Tour in three years.

Noted: Challenging national Republicans to stand by principles such as cutting federal spending, Palin invoked the national champion University of Wisconsin women?s hockey team. ?Maybe I should ask them,? she said of the hockey team members, ?if we should be suggesting to GOP leaders they need to learn how to fight like a girl,?? she said.

Kirk Daubenspeck can instantly recall where he took his future wife on their first date in 1998, the day they got married in 2004, even that winter night 14 years ago when his extraordinary efforts on behalf of the University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team put the former standout goaltender in the record books probably forever.

Ty Margenthaler could feel his coaching clock ticking. That?s why at age 39 and in his fifth season as an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team, he started to get the itch to become a head coach. That urge became a reality Thursday when Margenthaler was named coach at Southeast Missouri State.

Bobbie Kelsey is hitting the recruiting trail this weekend. But the first recruiting task for the new University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coach has been to connect with the players who have already committed to becoming Badgers.

….”I?m really excited for the buildup and the race to the championship game, to be able to have that to look forward to at the end of the year,” University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said.

Before then, some new rivalries will be established, while others will be trashed. The Badgers won?t face Iowa the next two seasons. But neighboring Nebraska could replace UW as the school Hawkeyes fans love to loathe.

With few exceptions, Shawn Eichorst has spent his life in Wisconsin. Hired as athletic director at the University of Miami on Tuesday, Eichorst said South Florida and Wisconsin have similarities.

The UW Athletic Department thinks that “free” doesn?t attract enough people. So during this time of high unemployment, they want to charge $5 to attend the UW-Madison spring scrimmage game on April 23.

Shawn Eichorst, Wisconsin?s deputy athletic director since 2009, on Tuesday was hired as the athletic director at Miami (Fla.).

The University of Miami has found a new Athletic Director — and we?re guessing you don?t know his name.

University of Miami president Donna Shalala went back to a place she knows well to hire an athletic director: the University of Wisconsin.