Category: Athletics

Bo Ryan certainly left his mark at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, winning four national championships during his 15 years as head coach of the Pioneers.

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — It was a day of hoop dreams in Platteville on Saturday as former UW-Platteville players and fans turned out to honor former coach and current UW coach Bo Ryan.

The brand new basketball court at Williams Fieldhouse in Platteville will now be called Bo Ryan Court.

“He means a lot to this town and I know talking with him that this town means a lot to him,” said former player Brian Gilmore.

In the city of just 10,000, he was the all-time winningest coach.

Paula Wilkins does not consider herself to be a risk-taker.

Yet she openly admits she’s taking a chance by leaving a Penn State women’s soccer program that is among the nation’s elite for an opportunity to build one up in Madison.

The streak lives.

After winning its last four games by an average of 5.2 points, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team won its nation-best and school-record 16th straight game Wednesday, scoring a 71-58 victory over Michigan in front of a sellout crowd of 17,190 at the Kohl Center including former standout Devin Harris.

University of Wisconsin offensive line coach Bob Palcic, who last season returned to college after a lengthy stint in the National Football League, has no plans to leave UW and return to the NFL.

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Madison offensive line coach Bob Palcic said he plans on remaining with the Badgers.

The Cleveland Browns recently received permission from Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema to talk to Palcic about joining their staff.

But Palcic said on Wednesday in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he hadn’t been offered any other job and expected to be back with the Badgers.

Before Bo stood courtside at the Kohl Center, he spent time on the hardwood 70-miles southwest of Madison. Under Bo Ryan’s lead, UW-Platteville netted four national titles. His success really put Platteville on the map. Now, nearly eight years after his departure, the university is showing its appreciation.

Ask anyone at Platteville and they’ll tell you Bo knows basketball. His teams won it all in ’91, ’95, ’98 and ’99.

University of Wisconsin Athletic Department officials may increase the cost of season tickets for football and men’s hockey for 2007-08.

Paula Wilkins, who has led the Penn State women’s soccer team to the last six Big Ten Conference regular-season championships, is among the four coaches who interviewed for the opening at the University of Wisconsin.

The second-ranked Badgers have won 19 of their first 20 games and are 5-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1962. Their home winning streak is at 17 games and with a victory over Michigan at 8 tonight at the Kohl Center, they will extend their winning streak to a national-best 16 games and set a school record for consecutive victories.

Reporters from around the country have come to town to write glowing articles about Bo Ryan’s swing offense and players Alando Tucker, Kammron Taylor and Brian Butch.

Life is golden in Badgerland.

It was a record-setting fall semester in the classroom for University of Wisconsin student-athletes.
It was announced Friday that UW student-athletes compiled a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 during the fall semester. According to school officials, that is the highest known score for a fall semester.

Bret Bielema is about to be rewarded financially for his phenomenally successful first season as University of Wisconsin football coach.

As expected, University of Wisconsin officials are working on a new contract for Bret Bielema, who in his first season was named Big Ten Conference football coach of the year and guided UW to a school-record 12 victories and a No. 7 ranking in the final Associated Press top 25 poll.

University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez guesses the Badgers will be ranked in the top 10 in the pre-season poll for 2007.

Alvarez said pre-season rankings are important for teams aiming to play in the Bowl Championship Series bowl games.

Some of the world’s greatest fashion designers have great stories to tell.

Ralph Lauren got his start selling gloves and in the late 1960s turned a $50,000 loan to make ties into the empire Polo is today.

Hip-hop designer Daymond John started FUBU out of the basement of his house in Queens, N.Y., after he came up with the idea of making tie-top hats to earn money.

Maybe one day people will shake their head in amazement at the thought of Jason Chappell starting a fashion line during his spare time as a college basketball player.

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team is ranked No. 2 by The Associated Press for its work on the court. It will soon be pronounced the athletic department’s No. 1 team in the classroom for the fall semester.That will mark the second consecutive semester that the men’s basketball team posted the highest GPA among all the men’s teams. The women’s basketball team also posted the highest GPA among all the women’s teams, multiple sources said.

Appearing in court Wednesday in Sycamore, Ill., Wisconsin sophomore cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu entered a plea of not guilty to charges of residential burglary and criminal trespass.

Marcus and Carl Landry might approach the Wisconsin-Purdue basketball game tonight as they’ve approached all the others this season, but their family is under no such obligation. To them, this isn’t any ordinary game.

It’s a certainty that at some point tonight, Carl Landry will catch the basketball in the post and start working his way toward the basket. And it’s almost as certain that at some point Marcus Landry will be the one guarding him as he does so.

….Have fans of the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team become so spoiled that they can hardly enjoy a victory over the fifth-ranked team in the nation?

While such a question may sound ludicrous on the surface, if the reaction of most filing out of the Kohl Center Tuesday night is an indication, the answer is yes.

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team picked up a pair of wins over the past week and, in the process, picked up 20 more Associated Press Top 25 poll voters who believe the Badgers are the best team in the country.

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team is the best in the country in the minds of Associated Press poll voters in 21 cities, from Boston to Los Angeles, Dallas to Philadelphia, and Olean, N.Y., to Las Cruces, N.M.

While defending NCAA champion Florida made its way to the No. 1 spot in the poll following a loss by formerly top-ranked North Carolina, the Badgers are close on their heels in the No. 2 spot. For the third time this season, UW achieved the highest ranking in school history when the poll was announced Monday.

Of all the subjective rankings that have included the University of Wisconsin football team this year, the one that probably raised the most eyebrows was released not long ago.

It wasn’t even in the sports section. Forbes.com, renowned for its international business coverage, saw fit to rate the 15 most valuable college football teams based on four beneficiaries: the university, athletic department, conference and community.

We can’t let the occasion of Otto Breitenbach’s death pass without joining the appropriately lengthy list of those mourning his loss. We were certainly not alone in observing on Tuesday night that Otto would have loved that basketball game. Or how reassuring it would have been to see him there.

1/10/07

So what will the University of Wisconsin’s initial football poll position be for the 2007 season?

UW fans can forget about the top five since the Badgers fell one spot in the final Associated Press top 25 poll after the Bowl Championship Series title game Monday night.

Whew!

Was there anything else to say after the final buzzer sounded in the University of Wisconsin’s 72-69 victory over fifth-ranked Ohio State on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center?

Tickets to the game are a hot commodity, and fans who don’t already have tickets might have to dish out hundreds of dollars to get a seat for the game, which starts at 8 p.m.

But authorities are warning ticket holders looking to cash in on the game that they could face fines for ticket scalping. In Wisconsin, asking anything more than the face value of a ticket is considered scalping.

Face value for the tickets is $24, but a pair of center court tickets could fetch as much as $500 on eBay.

MADISON, Wis. — Many Badger fans who are old enough are comparing Tuesday night’s showdown with another historic matchup with Ohio State, which happened in 1962.

Some consider that stunning University of Wisconsin-Madison victory to be the most memorable basketball game every played in Madison.

The sun has risen and set on 45 badger basketball seasons since the game. It was March 3, 1962, and the UW Field House was rocking.

You’d better be prepared to shell out some big bucks if you’re looking for a ticket to Tuesday night’s Badger-Buckeye mens’ basketball game at the Kohl Center.

We browsed through a number of online Web sites to see if any were available. Most tickets averaged about $150 or more.

It’s an important night for UW athletics as the Badger men’s basketball team prepares for a big game against Ohio State.

Ranked number three and number five, the Badgers game with the Buckeyes has the feel of a national championship. Part of this excitement carries over from a stellar year in 2006 in Badger sports. The department won national titles in men and women’s hockey, men’s cross country, and women’s rowing. But it takes a lot of money to support a top-notch athletic program.

University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan claims it’s just another game.

Everyone else, from bar owners to UW Chancellor John Wiley to ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, knows otherwise.

Ryan’s Badgers – ranked No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll, the highest ranking in program history – will square off against No. 5 Ohio State today at 8 p.m. at the Kohl Center.

Superman. Batman. The Transformers. Alando Tucker loves them all.

Though he is 22 years old, the University of Wisconsin senior has never given up his love of superheroes or the cartoons in which they star. He’s still down with crimefighters, right down to T-shirts you’ll sometimes find him wearing under his Badgers sweatshirt.

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and his prized pupil, Alando Tucker, understand the fuss over fifth-ranked Ohio State’s vaunted freshmen class, which the Badgers will see up close today in a heavily anticipated Big Ten game in Madison.

The anonymous, hostile e-mails were bad enough. The anonymous phone callers telling Brian Butch he was a failure really crossed the line. But Butch remained undaunted about his decision to redshirt the 2003-04 season, his freshman year at Wisconsin, even though some of the Wisconsin faithful couldn’t stomach the idea of a 6-11 McDonald’s All-American sitting out.

After talking with UW senior Justin Baker, you’d think the school was paying him to say some of the things he says.

“I think this school has done an outstanding job of preparing young people to go for it and really drive change in the world,” said Baker.

Baker is about to graduate with a marketing degree and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll make his old professors proud some day.

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has spent lots of time with his Fox announcing crew in recent weeks as they prepare to call the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS championship game Monday.

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Duke University lacrosse player sued the university Thursday, alleging that one of his professors unfairly gave him a failing grade because he was a member of the team.

Kyle Dowd, 22, graduated in 2006, after the rape allegations set off a tumultuous few weeks in Durham, with almost daily protests by people who criticized lacrosse team members for a pattern of rowdy behavior.

(Article also appeared in 1/5/07 Capital Times)

A day after Nick Saban agreed to an eight-year, $32 million contract to become Alabama’s football coach, the Senate Finance Committee’s chairman and ranking Republican said Thursday they intend to keep pressuring colleges about how they are using their tax-exempt status. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement colleges “need to justify” their expenses on coaching salaries and athletics facilities if they are to maintain that tax-exempt status.

When Florida’s Joe Cohen heard about the $32 million megadeal Alabama awarded its new football coach this week, he was delighted. “I’m happy for Nick Saban,” said the Gators senior defensive tackle. “That’s a lot of money. Somebody has to get paid.”Coaches get richer. Schools and conferences rake in millions of sponsorship and television dollars for the Bowl Championship Series. Networks reap the rewards of higher ratings. College ledgers benefit, too. And the student-athletes?

Commentary By Jon Saraceno

Buckeyes field more teams (36), spend the most ($101.8M) on athletics, but OSU’s megaprogram does have its critics.

Barry Alvarez could broadcast a few hundred more football games and never come close to matching the drama, excitement and entertainment provided by his very first game as a college football analyst.

Otto Karl Breitenbach, age 82 of Madison, died on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. He was born on June 27, 1924, the son of Otto Carl and Blanche (Clapp) Breitenbach. He graduated from Edgewood High School in 1941 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1948….He became the associate athletic director for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973. During this time he was also the commissioner for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Barry Alvarez always did want the focus on the field.

True, Alvarez isn’t one to shy away from attention himself, as the retired University of Wisconsin football coach and current athletic director now has a high-profile gig as one of Fox’s lead college football analysts.

University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi was being stretched in multiple directions. His No. 1 project, the construction of an on-campus football stadium, got some additional funding, while Maturi also received assurances from school President Robert Bruininks that the program would have the necessary resources to attract a “first-rate” head coach in the wake of the firing of Glen Mason…..

All of the above came into focus and perspective Wednesday when Maturi paid homage to one of his earliest mentors, Otto Breitenbach, who suffered a heart attack Monday and died Tuesday. Breitenbach (a former UW Athletic Department administrator) was 82.

Big Ten conference, ready or not, here comes the University of Wisconsin. Conference play started Tuesday night with Ohio State’s victory over Indiana. Eight other teams in the league will play their league opener tonight or Thursday.

Quarterback John Stocco was just beginning to savor the historic victory, his 29th and last in a University of Wisconsin uniform, when his focus turned toward the future.

Stocco will be gone in 2007, perhaps on a National Football League roster.

Whatever his destination, he thinks the UW program is poised to rise even higher than it did this season, when the Badgers finished 12-1 to set a school record for victories in a season.

THE LEGEND of how Bob Knight almost came to coach the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team has always been a bit murky.