Category: Athletics

Yvette Healy, head softball coach at Loyola in Chicago since 2004, has been named the head softball coach at Wisconsin, Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced Saturday.

The grandfather of college football?s first conference championship game believes if the Big Ten opts for a title game, as expected, the league would be wise to select a single host city.

Few sports powers other than the Miami Heat were built overnight. For decades, University of Wisconsin men?s basketball was nothing special. OK, the Badgers won the NCAA title in 1941. But until Dick Bennett became the coach there in 1995, winning seasons were rarities.

The 76 kids Devin Harris met inside steamy Camp Randall Stadium Wednesday afternoon were on a field trip to learn what it?s like to be a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin. Harris sponsored the field trip that emphasized the student much more than the athlete. It was part of a successful camp, which goes beyond basketball, the star guard for the New Jersey Nets runs in Madison and Milwaukee. The former standout with the UW men?s basketball team is one of the lucky few who realized his dream. He is playing pro basketball and has financial security. But he?ll tell anyone who wants to listen that he still needs more than his point guard skills to survive and thrive.

Wisconsin goaltender Scott Gudmandson is letting fans help design a goalie mask he?ll use in his upcoming senior season.

When the 2010 IAAF world junior track and field championships begin, it will be Mohammed Ahmed who carries Canada?s hopes into the distance events. Ahmed will be a sophomore at UW-Madison.

The road that brought Joe Faust to University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team is paved with some pronounced bumps that came without warning. He was recruited by UW out of Bloomington Jefferson (Minn.) High School and offered a scholarship last fall, but the 18-year-old defenseman and honor student decided he was better off taking his NHL-caliber skills and strong academic record to Princeton.

Only three women are head coaches ? but that shouldn?t matter. Look carefully at this word picture and tell me if you see something that doesn?t fit. The University of Wisconsin has more women?s sports programs (12) than men?s teams (11). According to the latest Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data, UW is one of three schools in the Big Ten Conference to have more women student-athletes (393) than men (374). Minnesota and Northwestern are the others.

The state’s pre-eminent female athlete reminisces about her victory over all the boys in her fifth-grade class, which sparked her interest on running, and is christened a Hall of Famer at a ceremony Saturday in San Diego. Favor Hamilton went on to win nine NCAA individual titles at the University of Wisconsin and was a three-time Olympian, barely missing out on a fourth berth in 2004.

Before coming to Madison, Suzy Favor Hamilton had already created a name for herself thanks to a dynamic career at Stevens Point Area High School.

On Saturday, her legacy at SPASH ? and as the greatest female athlete in state history ? was cemented when she was inducted into the National Federation of High Schools Hall of Fame during a ceremony in San Diego, Calif.

At the second-annual Madison Mini-Marathon on Aug. 21, runners who pay an extra $25 will get access to special restrooms and a private gear check area. The VIP section will be on the second floor of Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus, where the race starts and ends.

Jackie Friesen was named a full-time member of the University of Wisconsin women?s hockey staff Thursday. The former Badgers forward and assistant captain will serve as an assistant coach under Mark Johnson.

Citing personal reasons, Brent Vigness declined the head coaching job for the University of Wisconsin softball team after accepting the job previously.Vigness has decided to remain the head coach of the Creighton University softball team, according to the UW press release.

When Danny Lanphear was inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame, he was overshadowed by the three other members of the 1989 induction class.

….Lanphear has been remembered again ? this time with his inclusion in the UW Athletic Hall of Fame. It?s likely, too, that Lanphear will once again be cast in the shadows of some others in the 2010 class.

It?s too easy to argue that the University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team is in the midst of the most turbulent offseason in program history.

There are a lot of ways you can measure the recently completed year for University of Wisconsin sports programs.

Dear Editor: The recent Wisconsin State Journal headline ?Madison embarks on quest to receive ?platinum? bike friendliness rating? should have appeared back in October of ?06, when Mayor Bike Shorts and the Bike Reich formed the Platinum Biking City Planning Committee to secure the League of American Bicyclists? coveted platinum rating.

While less than a scouting badge to the known universe, it?s become the city?s white whale and they now believe they?re ready to set the harpoon. Where?s all that time and money gone? Someone must be confusing activity with measurable results.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany hasn?t shared much with the public regarding expansion talks.But on the day the league added Nebraska, he did spell out his priorities for dividing the Big Ten into divisions. Traditional emphasis of geography is third. Maintaining rivalries is second. And first, he said, is “competitive fairne

There was the anticipation during spring practice in April that the University of Wisconsin would be getting some national recognition in June when the college football preview magazines went on sale.

When starting quarterback Scott Tolzien was asked about the prospect of lofty expectations for the 2010 Badgers, he said, â??The key is to block it out and thatâ??s a hard thing to do when youâ??ve got guys reading the magazines.â?

Hereâ??s a sampling of what they might read: Lindyâ??s has Wisconsin ranked No. 6 in the nation in its preseason poll behind Alabama, Boise State, Ohio State, Texas and Florida.

The table just east of the cozy fireplace at Buckets Pub remained vacant as business picked up during Mondayâ??s lunch hour. A cardboard cutout of Bucky Badger was positioned at the center of the table, next to a framed Journal Times Best of Racine certificate that reads, “Voted Best Sports Fan.”

The UW strength and conditioning program has evolved to add nutrition and position-specific exercises.

Hockey player Blake Geoffrion and swimmer Maggie Meyer have been named the University of Wisconsinâ??s athletes of the year, the school announced Wednesday. Geoffrion, a senior forward, led the Badgers to the NCAA championship game and became UWâ??s first Hobey Baker Award winner this season, while Meyer is a 2009-10 USA Swimming National Team member and a five-time All-American for the Badgers.

Former University of Wisconsin standout Chris Solinsky is profiled in the June 28 edition of Sports Illustrated, which is on newsstands now. A five-time NCAA champion and 11-time All-American while with the Badgers, Solinsky caught the magazineâ??s attention after shattering the American record in the 10,000 meters in early May and becoming only the fifth U.S. runner to break 13 minutes in the 5,000 three weeks ago in Oslo.

The University of Wisconsin will host its Football Family Fun Day on Aug. 22 at Camp Randall Stadium, the school announced. The free event runs from 3 to 5 p.m. and features autograph sessions and photo opportunities with coach Bret Bielema and the UW players.

The NCAA watchdog commissionâ??s latest report suggests more transparent reporting of the dollars involved in big-time athletics, a practice where the UW is actually ahead of the curve.

The Big Ten Conference is proud of its trophy games, and new member Nebraska wants to be part of the club.

The Big Ten Conference is proud of its trophy games, and new member Nebraska wants to be part of the club.

But which team is the best fit as a rival? And if itâ??s the Badgers, what would that trophy be called?

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema contacted the Big Ten office the day after Nebraska became the leagueâ??s 12th member and suggested that the Badgers and Cornhuskers lock into a season-ending game.

A Des Moines Sunday Register open-records request to Iowa for copies of e-mails concerning Big Ten expansion turned up a gem from Walter Dickey, chairman of the University of Wisconsin athletics board.

Youâ??ve probably heard the stereotype before: football is a manâ??s sport. But about 300 women disproved that stereotype Wednesday evening at the second annual Football 101 for Women at Camp Randall. Itâ??s a lot of fun and itâ??s all for a good cause. All proceeds from the event will go toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation in Madison to help fight breast cancer

….Some academics on the UW-Madison campus are asking if the sports side of the equation â?? Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and league athletic directors â?? wielded too much power in making the University of Nebraska the 12th member of the conference earlier this month.

â??Itâ??s an unfortunate, to my mind, reflection of the times that athletics are driving academics,â? says UW-Madison communication arts professor Rob Asen. â??The fact that the primary decision makers here are Jim Delany and the athletic directors to me is disturbing. It seems to me like the educational leaders at UW-Madison and elsewhere are sort of abdicating their role as leaders.â?

Donald Downs, a UW-Madison political science professor, sees it the same way.

Whenever somebody from Notre Dame talks about reasserting the universityâ??s independence during the ongoing college conference realignment discussion, I imagine a thirtysomething bachelor still living in his parentsâ?? basement.

Dear Editor: The Big Ten athletic conference should be renamed the Big Midwest and should be a conference of big state universities of the Midwest. It should not be seeking new members outside of the Midwest. It should let Penn State go because Pennsylvania is not part of the Midwest and should let Northwestern go because it is a private university with a much smaller enrollment than the big state universities in the conference.

A 12-school Big Ten is just right, according to Stanley Ikenberry, Illinois interim president.

The UW football coach’s suggestion that the Badgers’ last game of each season be against Nebraska may be nothing more than a jab at his counterpart at Minnesota, who should be Wisconsin’s final foe year in and year out.

If UW-Milwaukeeâ??s athletic department was not on top of the world in 2005, it was at least breathing the rarefied air up there. March Madness gripped the campus, electrified the city and energized alumni, untold thousands of whom hadnâ??t worn their school colors – or opened their wallets – in years.

Staring at extinction, the Big 12 is once again in play. The beleaguered conference made a rousing comeback Monday, when Texas declined an invitation to join the Pac-10 and decided to stay in the Big 12.