Category: Athletics

As expected, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez is returning to the sideline. Again.

University of Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez will coach the football team for the Outback Bowl, according to an ESPN analyst.

For the second time in three years, Wisconsin has lost a coach to an equal-at-best program. Head coach Gary Andersen has left Madison for Oregon State, stunning the Badger faithful and leaving athletic director Barry Alvarez grasping for options. Of course, Andersen was hired to replace Bret Bielema, who preferred the smoldering crater left by Bobby Petrino at Arkansas to Wisconsin.

The 2014 college football coaching carousel has included the requisite weirdness, with fans and media tracking athletic directors’ flights, paparazzi taking pictures through living room windows, and a school canning a guy with a 67-27 record in favor of a dude with a 93-80 mark. You know, the usual stuff. But on Wednesday, we went from weird to genuinely baffling, with second-year Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen jumping ship for Oregon State otherwise known as the school that used to employ the 93-80 guy. It’s football, not feelingsball, but we’re going to share some feelings anyway.

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez hopes to move quickly to find a new head coach after Gary Andersens stunning departure to Oregon State.

Melvin Gordon finally publicly revealed what everyone associated with the Wisconsin football program has known for months:Gordon plans to enter the 2015 National Football League draft.

Gary Andersen became a trending topic nationally Wednesday afternoon when he left Wisconsin to become the head coach at Oregon State.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore setter already has taken her place among the top players in the program’s history, and her resume continues to grow … This season she’s led the Badgers to their first Big Ten title since 2001, earning conference player of the year and setter of the year honors.

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, Alabama receiver Amari Cooper and record-breaking Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy.

After having one of the best seasons for a running back in college football history, it was no surprise when Gordon was named a Heisman Trophy finalist along with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper.

During Melvin Gordons freshman year at Wisconsin, then-teammate Montee Ball noted the graduate of Kenosha Bradford High School had more talent than any running back on the UW roster.

The seven senior members of the University of Wisconsin volleyball team stood alone on the court at the UW Field House, embraced, shared some tears and waved to the fans. And then they rejoined the rest of their teammates, ready to move on to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

If you think it’s hard for you to flush the University of Wisconsin’s embarrassing defeat in the Big Ten Conference Championship football game out of your system, imagine what it’s like for the team.

Wisconsin fans have seen this type of mismatch in the Big Ten title game.

As the Wisconsin players and coaches left their locker room Saturday night, the 59-0 thrashing at the hands of Ohio State hovering over them, everyone tried to turn their attention to the upcoming bowl game.

PEWAUKEE, Wis. — The Watt brothers have always been competitive — with others ideally, with each other when necessary — whether playing their first love, hockey; their current sport, football; or their family pastime of shinny, a pickup hockey game that is specific to their basement.

If the Badgers get past Ohio State in the Big Ten Conference championship game Saturday in Indianapolis, they are virtually guaranteed of a berth in one of the College Football Playoff bowl games … If UW loses to Ohio State, that’s where the picture gets a bit fuzzy.

Nearly 100 University of Wisconsin-Madison students held a vigil outside the Kohl Center toward the end of the Duke-Wisconsin basketball game to demonstrate solidarity with victims of police brutality, including Mike Brown, the unarmed teenager who was shot to death by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, who was choked to death by New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo. A Staten Island grand jury ended the criminal case against Pantaleo Wedneday, kicking off mass protests in New York and around the country. The students gathered outside the UW basketball game held signs and stood in silence to pay their respects.

The Badgers 28-2 enter their NCAA tournament opener tonight ranked No. 2 in the AVCA coaches poll and seeded No. 4 overall, the highest in the program’s 17 NCAA appearances. That’s a big step up from a year ago when the Badgers entered the tournament under the radar as the No. 12 seed and went on a surprising run to the championship match, knocking off top-ranked Texas in the national semifinals.

The last week has brought tears of joy and smiles to the face of fifth-year senior offensive lineman Kyle Costigan.

Youth trumped experience Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.Led by sensational freshmen Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor, No. 4 Duke outplayed No. 2 Wisconsin for most of the night and secured an 80-70 victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Melvin Gordons record-breaking season has put him in the national spotlight. The Badgers running back is now being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The magazine details Gordons season as he makes a run at the NCAA single-season rushing record.

Basketball fans hoping to attend the game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday are being warned against purchasing counterfeit tickets.

After this weekends win over Minnesota, the Badger football team will be heading to Indianapolis looking for a fourth Big Ten Championship. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, its a big game at the Kohl Center as the mens basketball team takes on Duke.

Wisconsin redshirt junior tailback Melvin Gordon, a graduate of Kenosha Bradford High School, on Monday was named the Big Ten’s Ameche-Dayne running back of the year.

A former University of Wisconsin Badgers football standout out and his brother have been arrested as suspects in a series of armed robberies in Madison and Middleton.

Tipoff for this one is set for 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Kohl Center, and the game will be televised by ESPN.

If anyone can find a college football team more resilient than Wisconsin, please let UW coach Gary Andersen know.

A few weeks ago, we resurrected an old photo from our archives of a University of Wisconsin Badgers football game from more than 60 years ago but didnt have much more info on that game other than what could be deduced from the image.

UW beat the Golden Gophers 34-24 to advance to next Saturday’s Big Ten Championship game against No. 7 Ohio State.

The University of Wisconsin volleyball team received the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA tournament — the highest seed in program history — as the field for this year’s tourney was announced Sunday night.

Kyle Costigan, a fifth-year senior guard from Muskego High School, is set to play his final home game Saturday when the Badgers face rival Minnesota. But he isn’t sure his mother will make it this time. Sandy Costigan is struggling in her battle with kidney cancer.

“I anticipate a ton of quarterback run,” said UW defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. “Early in the year they were conventional, or as conventional as Minnesota was last year. They’ve transformed themselves to where they are now a quarterback spread-run game. And they have had success since that transformation.”

“We consider ourselves a No. 1 defense in the country. We pride ourselves on that. And to go out there and put the performance we had last week was disappointing,” says linebacker Vince Biegel. “We’re looking forward to playing Minnesota and having that (expletive)-off, chip-on-our-shoulder edge we’ve had all year.”

Michael Caputo had no intention of taking himself out of the Wisconsin lineup.

It’s no secret that Saturday will likely be Melvin Gordon’s last game at Camp Randall Stadium … UW coach Gary Andersen isn’t one to make assumptions, though, and Gordon will not be honored alongside the seniors before the Badgers take on rival Minnesota on Saturday.

Instead of the axe being kept behind the bench of the current caretaker during the game, it will appear for the ceremonial coin toss and then vanish until the game is over. Instead of players from the winning team gathering up the axe and using it to feign the act of chopping down both goal posts, the axe will be made available to the winners in the end zone closest to their locker room.

If Minnesota defeats Wisconsin on Saturday to secure the Big Ten West Division title, the Gophers will not have the pleasure of sprinting across the Camp Randall Stadium field to the UW sideline to take back Paul Bunyans Axe.

Pat Richter hasnt forgotten the last time Wisconsin and Minnesota both had legitimate championship aspirations when they met on the football field.

The Wisconsin Badgers currently have possession of Paul Bunyan’s Axe.  If the Minnesota Gophers can pull off the upset over the Badgers on Saturday, they won’t have the chance to sprint across the field to the Badger sideline to take back the Axe.

Just in time for the University of Wisconsin Badgers to hand over “Paul Bunyan’s Axe” to the University of Minnesota, UW football coach Gary Andersen has outlined a new policy that will prevent the ceremonial parading of the axe by the team that wins the game, and the ceremonial chopping of the goalposts.

Astute observers of the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team might remember a handful of games when coach Bo Ryan wore a red sport coat. One of those times, his mother, Louise, happened to be watching on TV.

LaDainian Tomlinsons FBS Football Bowl Subdivision single-game rushing record, shattered one week earlier by Wisconsins Melvin Gordon, lasted 15-plus seasons.Gordon held the record, 408 yards on 25 carries against Nebraska, for one week.

University of Wisconsin football coach Gary Andersen has been named one of 20 semifinalists for the Maxwell Football Club Collegiate Coach of the Year Award.

The message coach Mick Byrne delivered to his University of Wisconsin women’s cross country team Friday afternoon was simple.

Although just a sophomore himself, Malachy Schrobilgen had more experience with the 10-kilometer distance than four of his University of Wisconsin men’s cross country teammates that joined him on the starting line for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet on Friday.