The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is not expected to raise ticket prices for any of its top-of-the-marquee sports in 2008-09, and there’s a very interesting reason for that.
According to UW associate athletic director John Jentz, the $4.112 million UW Athletics received via the Big Ten Network revenue sharing plan made it possible to keep ticket prices for football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey at their current levels.
In a move that would provide tens of thousands of athletes with more money for college expenses, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed on Tuesday to reallocate up to $228-million to settle a massive antitrust lawsuit filed by four former players. But the deal could have costly implications for colleges in the coming years.
Madison – James Kamoku’s fifth and final year at the University of Wisconsin has been a documentary about pain, disappointment and frustration.
And the Achilles’ tendon injury Kamoku suffered in preseason football camp, an injury that prevented him from playing in every game but the Outback Bowl, turned out to be the least of his worries.
As he was preparing for exams last month and working to get back onto the field, Kamoku received a call from his brother back home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
University of Wisconsin head football coach Bret Bielema received a one-year contract extension Friday, keeping him on the lead of the Badgers until 2013.
The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is in good financial shape, but if it’s to fund an ambitious list of capital projects and stay nationally competitive, it needs to lose weight.
UW is getting almost maximum income from its three go-to sports: football is sold out at Camp Randall Stadium, while men’s basketball is sold out and men’s hockey is averaging an NCAA-best 13,862 at the Kohl Center.
The Big Ten and NFL Networks foreshadow a future in Wisconsin in which the general public can’t watch Badger football, basketball, or hockey games at home and, drum roll, please, there are few-to-no Green Bay Packers games either.
This is a scenario Wisconsin should head off at the pass.
These are OUR teams, and that’s not just speaking metaphorically. Wisconsin can and should be the national leader in the debate over and resolution of the ongoing NFL and Big Ten Networks fracas. It can be a force and victor for people, be they shareholders, taxpayers or just plain old TV sports fanatics.
James Kamoku’s fifth and final year at the University of Wisconsin has been a documentary about pain, disappointment and frustration.
And the Achilles’ tendon injury Kamoku suffered in preseason football camp, an injury that prevented him from playing in every game but the Outback Bowl, turned out to be the least of his worries.
As he was preparing for exams last month and working to get back onto the field, Kamoku received a call from his brother back home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
His brother’s message: The family, unable to keep up with the monthly house payments, would soon be homeless.
The scene was much calmer at the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board meeting Friday, compared to the contentious session a month and a half ago when some members questioned the decisions and decision-making process of the leadership of the university and athletic department.
Calmer until the board went into closed session, that is.
There, the board reviewed some personnel evaluations — the stated reason for the closed session — but spent the better part of two hours engaged in discussion, described as “a little tense,” regarding some members’ concerns about an athletic department that they perceive to be operating outside of the mission of the university.
Jack Ikegwuonu’s path to the NFL took a major detour Tuesday when the former University of Wisconsin cornerback sustained a serious knee injury while training in Davie, Fla.
Ikegwuonu sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament while pulling a sled in an exercise designed to improve his speed, according to published reports.
Cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu suffered a torn ACL during a workout on Tuesday, but his agent disputed early reports it would cause the former University of Wisconsin standout to miss the upcoming football season.
College hockey programs that have been fortunate enough to get highly skilled players to join their team always have been looking over their shoulder. That glance now shows the NHL a lot closer than it has been before.
It’s part of the process, of course, that the pro level takes the best college players, often before they’ve completed four years in school. The manner in which it’s being done is what has some college hockey coaches and administrators uneasy.
….Wisconsin, which has lost four players in the last two offseasons, has seen players sign because of offers that might not have been available later.
ack Ikegwuonu, the former University of Wisconsin cornerback, blew out his knee Tuesday in a training exercise and won’t play football in 2008.
MADISON, Wis. — Former Memorial High and Badgers star Jack Ikegwuonu was hoping to be selected in the upcoming NFL draft, but it is being reported that he has suffered an injury that will keep him from playing in 2008.
Ikegwuonu left University of Wisconsin-Madison after his junior season to enter the NFL draft, but his injury will delay or possibly derail that dream.
Senior Jolene Anderson has made the next phase of cutoffs for the Naismith Trophy, an award given to the nation’s top women’s basketball player.
The ABC/ESPN tag team of Brent Musburger, the venerable play-by-play voice, and Steve Lavin, the hip but grounded analyst, acknowledged how quiet it has become.
And it had nothing to do with Tuesday night’s traffic backup on the campus arteries leading to the Kohl Center; an annoying “rush hour” gridlock which delayed the arrival of many University of Wisconsin men’s basketball ticket-holders. Nor did it have anything to do with the unthreatening presence of a struggling, second-tier Big Ten opponent….
But maybe you noticed, too, how quiet it has become; a deafening silence, if you will, since Dick Vitale has been sidelined since mid-December with health issues.
Brian Butch had his doubts, but he put his faith in his teammate and dug in.
Greg Stiemsma didn’t let him down.
If you think the sight of a 6-foot-11, 260-pound center is imposing in the paint, picture him, apron and all, wheeling and dealing in front of a stove. Stiemsma owns the lane on the court, and runs the kitchen at home, whether it is grilling, breakfast or, Butch’s favorite, fettuccine.
There are a lot of people who would’ve laughed at, derided or otherwise ridiculed the notion that Wisconsin would be No. 11 in the country the year after Alando Tucker left.
No shock here, but Tucker would not be one of them.
MADISON, Wis. — The dispute with cable companies and the NFL Network continues in Wisconsin even as the football season is winding down.
A bill heard Tuesday by an Assembly Committee would require cable companies and the NFL Network to go to arbitration to reach a deal. The NFL Network and the Big Ten Network have reached agreements with many carriers, but not Time Warner and Charter Communications.
John Elway finally won a Super Bowl. Matt Damon, not Bo Ryan, was cast in the hit movie, “Saving Private Ryan.” Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Marion Jones were still credible, if not safe from themselves. A President was claiming that he did not have sexual relations with that woman (an intern named Miss Lewinsky). And a former Northwestern men’s basketball coach, Kevin O’Neill, insisted that almost everyone who attended the opening of the Kohl Center was wearing a red, plaid shirt. “I had one of our managers do a count and there were 13,412 in there. Several women had them on, too,” O’Neill swore.
In any mention of 10-year anniversaries (see multiple entries above), O’Neill and his colorful X-rated language would have to be among the “firsts” in the Kohl Center — as in the first coach to litter the sidelines with expletives.
MIKE EAVES is mad, and he should be.
The UW-Madison men’s hockey team lost a game last weekend when a referee incorrectly disallowed a Badger goal that tied the game at the last second. The referee misinterpreted a video review of the goal, and Denver won the game, 3-2.
….The episode is bad enough that it just may go down as the second most egregious referee’s mistake in the annals of University of Wisconsin athletics. But as bad as it was, the disallowed goal in Denver is a distant second.
Barry Alvarez, UW-Madison athletic director, will talk about his partial knee implant surgery at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Madison Marriot West, 1313 John Q. Hammons Drive, Middleton.
1. March 5, 2003
No. 24 Wisconsin 60, No. 14 Illinois 59
Big Ten conference regular-season title game in which sophomore point guard Devin Harris made a free throw with .04 seconds left. The Badgers earned their first outright Big Ten title since 1947 and first back-to-back titles since 1924.
You have to look past all the cement and glass, the red seats, the wide concourses and the funky artwork on the walls to learn why the Kohl Center has been such a great home for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team.
When Dave Doeren and Bob Bostad were hired on the original staff of University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema two years ago, it was with two moves potentially in mind.
Doeren, who was hired as linebackers coach, co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, would ultimately take over as defensive coordinator.
It has won five of the last six NCAA titles, nine of its 10 teams were ranked in the top 20 poll just last week and its programs are regularly raided for talent by the NHL.
Mike Eaves doesn’t think anything will come of it, but the men’s hockey coach and the University of Wisconsin are going ahead with a protest of Friday’s officiating error-tainted loss to Denver.
The aim is to have the defeat stripped from their record, replacing it with a tie in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings. But to Eaves, a consolation prize would be the restructuring of the video review and appeals processes to avoid similar snafus in the future.
University of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan’s teams have always played well at home.
This season, they’re not doing too shabby on the road either.
This week, the No. 21 Badgers will get tested both on the road at Penn State on Tuesday and then at home on Saturday against Northwestern.
27 News has uncovered UW basketball player Kevin Gullikson has been cited four times for underage drinking in the past two years, including a Minnesota citation, where the case was dismissed, despite Gullikson’s apparent violation of court requirements.
Gullikson remains with the basketball team. UW Associate Athletic Director Vince Sweeney told 27 News Gullikson’s situation is being handled internally. “We have a variety of options in front of us.”
27 News has uncovered UW basketball player Kevin Gullikson has been cited four times for underage drinking in the past two years, including a Minnesota citation, where the case was dismissed, despite Gullikson’s apparent violation of court requirements.
Gullikson remains with the basketball team. Team spokesman Brian Lucas has yet to return a phone call from 27 News. In published reports, Lucas has said Gullikson’s situation is being handled internally.
Records show Gullikson, 20, was most recently cited for underage drinking Jan.6, with a blood alcohol level of .20, more than twice Wisconsin’s legal driving limit of .08.
When Plymouth schools Superintendent Paul Brandl was retiring, he looked into warm Florida or Arizona like his friends had, but he decided on Madison instead. His major objective was to live within walking distance of the Kohl Center.
Dear Editor: It is time to speak up and support Charter Communications in its dispute with the Big Ten Network. It must be very disappointing for Bo Ryan to recruit a team and field it, to be viewed by only about 10 percent of the TV viewers.
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Jolene Anderson wanted no fanfare with breaking the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball career scoring mark.
“I just want to get it over with,” Anderson said in an interview earlier last week, hoping to perhaps break the record at the Kohl Center in UW’s game Thursday against Michigan.
Anderson shattered the record in dominating style Sunday night, but the effort proved to be bittersweet, as the Badgers suffered a 78-74 overtime Big Ten Conference loss to Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Football fans will see a price increase at the ticket office when a team from the big ten conference plays at Bulldog stadium next season. The Bulldog stadium ticket office has been hearing from university of Wisconsin fans for months.
But some Wisconsin fans and administrators don’t like what they are hearing from Fresno State; earlier this week the school announced tickets for the game will be $60 dollars for a bench seat and $80 dollars to sit in the red seats. The highest price ever charged for a bulldog home game, more than double last year’s highest priced ticket.
Equally concerning to some in Wisconsin making travel plans, Fresno State won’t sell individual game tickets until August, two months later than in past years. It’s a scheme UNLV used last fall when they played Wisconsin, And told Badger fans the only way to guarantee getting a ticket for the game was to buy a season ticket. The president of Wisconsin’s Alumni Association said of UNLV and Fresno State earlier this week quote they do take advantage of their marketing opportunities. When asked if schools often take advantage of Wisconsin’ Paula Bonner replied “last year was the first that it became most obvious’.
Ten years?
You’re kidding me, right?
I could swear it was just last week that I stood on a patch of dirt â?? surrounded by concrete walls, engulfed by the din of construction equipment â?? and tried to envision what the Kohl Center would look like when it was built.
Dear Editor: Please don’t let this Big Ten Network fiasco be swept under some rug.
I have no problem with the NFL Network. That’s professional sports and, of course, all about money.
But Chancellor John Wiley and his highness Barry Alvarez really sold out to the greed of the athletic department with its luxury boxes and ridiculous ticket pricing, with a pittance going to UW-Madison programs.
On the coaches’ ballot, University of Wisconsin junior Jack Ikegwuonu, Ohio State junior Malcolm Jenkins, Penn State junior Justin King and Illinois sophomore Vontae Davis made up the first team All-Big Ten secondary.
Davis is coming back for his junior season. He doesn’t have options. But the others may all be headed to the NFL. Ikegwuonu, for sure, is going in that direction, according to Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com.
Pasquarelli wrote Monday that Ikegwuonu, the former Madison Memorial athlete, has filed the appropriate paperwork with the league office for entry into the draft.
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball player Kevin Gullikson has been ticketed again for underage drinking, according to a citation made public Wednesday.
Team spokesman Brian Lucas told The Capital Times: “We are aware of the situation. We are handling it internally.”
Gullikson practiced with the team Wednesday.
One of the most meaningful, if under-publicized, events associated with the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is its annual hall of fame induction ceremony.
It takes place on the weekend of the first game of the UW football season at Camp Randall Stadium. The inductees have their plaques unveiled at Kubly Plaza â?? located on the south end of the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center â?? on Friday and are introduced at halftime the next day.
University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball player Kevin Gullikson was ticketed again for underage drinking, police say. Online court records show Gullikson, 20, received similar tickets the previous two years. He is due to make a court appearance Jan. 31 on the latest citation.
MADISON â?? Wisconsin basketball player Kevin Gullikson has been ticketed again for underage drinking, according to a citation made public Wednesday.
The backup forward was cited at 3:46 a.m. Sunday by a University of Wisconsin-Madison police officer.
The citation said his blood alcohol level measured 0.20 in a breath test. It lists the address of the stop as the business school.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema, who has lost two assistant coaches in the past few days, no longer has to worry about offensive coordinator Paul Chryst going to Purdue.
BEREA, Ohio (AP) _ Cleveland Browns rookie left tackle Joe Thomas, a former University of Wisconsin player, has been added to the AFC Pro Bowl roster, replacing Jason Peters of the Buffalo Bills.
The move came Tuesday after Peters injured his groin during the Bills’ game against the New York Giants in Week 16 and missed the regular-season finale at Philadelphia.
Thomas, the third overall selection in last year’s draft from Wisconsin, started all 16 games for the Browns and was part of an offensive line that allowed only 19 sacks, the third-fewest in franchise history.
In assembling his first staff, University of Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema sought to strike a balance between youth and experience. To this end, he brought in Bob Palcic to coach the offensive line and Mike Hankwitz to coordinator the defense.
Bielema is now seeking to replace both veteran assistants.
….Over the last two seasons, Palcic and Hankwitz each helped mentor their potential replacement on the UW staff.
Palcic, 59, has joined Rick Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA.
Hankwitz, 60, is looking for work after being relieved of his duties by Bielema.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema’s staff is going to look dramatically different next season â?? and that’s even before offensive coordinator Paul Chryst decides whether or not he is leaving for Purdue.
University of Wisconsin junior cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu has elected to enter the NFL draft and will not return for his senior season, ESPN.com reported Monday.
Madison – The University of Wisconsin football staff will have at least two new faces next season and it appears the defense will be without one of its top playmakers, cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu.
Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz, according to sources, has been fired. Offensive line coach Bob Palcic has left the staff to become the offensive line coach at UCLA under Rick Neuheisel, his longtime friend. And, Ikegwuonu has decided to enter the 2008 National Football League draft.
Dear Editor: I just finished watching the disappointing finish to the Outback Bowl and I feel that it is time for someone to seriously question Bret Bielema’s decision-making ability.
The most obvious example of this was his decision to go for it on fourth down with five minutes to play.
….What is hard for me to get over is when a coach makes decisions that obviously hurt his team’s chances to win and no one calls him out on it.
Curt Phillips made it clear Sunday that he intends to honor his verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin football program, even if offensive coordinator Paul Chryst leaves the Badgers for Purdue.
Phillips, a Tennessee native who is rated as the No. 8 dual-threat senior quarterback in the nation by recruiting service Rivals.com, is a member of UW’s 2008 recruiting class.
While University of Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst is pondering his options — Chryst has been targeted as a potential replacement for Joe Tiller at Purdue when the 65-year-old Tiller retires — another UW assistant has already made up his mind to move on. In so doing, Bob Palcic, the Badgers offensive line coach, will be rejoining an old colleague, Rick Neuheisel, who was recently hired as UCLA’s head coach.
There are no absolutes about 2008, only educated guesses from people with varying degrees of education.
Here are some from your classic “C-minus” student.
Madison – University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema avoided losing offensive coordinator Paul Chryst to the NFL after the 2006 season.
Now, less than a week after UW closed its 2007 season with a loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, Bielema appears in danger of losing Chryst to Big Ten Conference rival Purdue.
So you watched the University of Wisconsin lose a shootout to Colgate last Friday and you’re not thrilled with the idea of having one-on-one penalty shots decide who wins?
Try this instead: Both teams get a power play as part of the overtime procedure. If the Badgers score and keep the Raiders from converting on their chance, the Badgers win. If the Raiders score shorthanded on the Badgers’ chance, the game’s over immediately and the Raiders win. Penalties on the shorthanded team extend the power play by two minutes.
That interesting scenario is one of many on the table for discussion by the NCAA men’s and women’s ice hockey rules committee as it looks into whether it’s time to reduce or eliminate ties in the college game.
There are no complicated answers to explain why the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team is back in the national spotlight as one of the hottest teams in the Big Ten Conference.
The Badgers’ 70-54 win at Michigan in their Big Ten opener Wednesday night was their fifth straight victory and third on the road. Included in that streak is a 67-66 upset win over then-ninth-ranked Texas last Saturday. Wisconsin and Texas are the only teams in the country with road wins against top-10 teams this season.
When the Badgers begin preparations for the 2008 football season – with winter conditioning later this month – they will be coming off a disappointing 21-17 loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, a loss that capped a disappointing 9-4 season for a team that opened No. 7 in both national polls.
UW Basketball player Alando Tucker and Wisconsin Film Festival Director Meg Hamel were recognized in this article.
TAMPA, Fla. — Because nobody does bowls like the University of Wisconsin football team, you’ll have to excuse the Badgers if they didn’t quite know how to act Tuesday.
TAMPA, Fla. — This is going to be the winter of the University of Wisconsin football team’s discontent.
Another New Year’s Day, another bowl game in Florida against another Southeastern Conference opponent, another half-filled upper deck in a palm-tree-lined stadium, another Ainge beating on another team from Wisconsin.
It’s good that some things don’t change, not so good on others.
One year ago, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer and his players left Raymond James Stadium frustrated and bitter because they thought generally sloppy play had contributed greatly to their loss in the Outback Bowl.
University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema and his players know that feeling today.
TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Wisconsin football team’s workouts during the last two offseasons have been buoyed by the satisfaction the team gained from victories over Southeastern Conference opponents in January bowl games.
This offseason will be quite different for Bret Bielema’s charges. Depending on how they respond, it may not be such a bad thing.
If the reaction by the Badgers’ underclassmen to a 21-17 loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl Tuesday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium is any indication, anger and regret may be the central themes over the next seven months before the Badgers arrive for 2008 preseason camp.
