When Big Ten officials proudly announced in 2013 that the league was adding Maryland of the ACC and Rutgers of the Big East, thus expanding to 14 schools, reaction in the Midwest was mixed.
John Karl Scholz issued a statement following the Big Ten’s announcement Thursday night.
“The University of Wisconsin–Madison is pleased to support the planned expansion of the Big Ten Conference with the inclusion of the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). “This expansion helps solidify the Big Ten Conference as the one, true national powerhouse conference, with member universities, teams and fans stretching from coast to coast.
Engel-Natzke’s path to Washington began in earnest in 2017 when she began working as the full-time video coach for University of Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Tony Granato following several years assisting with the men’s and women’s programs there
Here’s what University of Wisconsin fans — and a few former UW athletes — were saying about the news.
The Big Ten named Rettke its Female Athlete of the Year for the second time Wednesday, making her just the second from UW to win the award more than once.
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Greg Gard’s new contract agreement, dated June 10, puts him as one of the highest-paid Big Ten men’s basketball coaches.
University of Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh said he’s happy for the Badgers’ West Coast alumni after the Big Ten Conference voted Thursday to add UCLA and Southern Cal. “They will now be more connected than ever to the conference and to their alma mater,” McIntosh said in a statement released by UW in the hours after the move became official. “I can’t wait for our teams and fans to come together on a regular basis in Southern California.”
How should you as University of Wisconsin fans feel about this seismic shift in college athletics? I’m not really sure, to be honest, because there’s a lot to process here and I’m not even sure how I feel quite yet.
After Oklahoma and Texas stunned the college athletics landscape by announcing their entry into the SEC last summer, USC and UCLA are reportedly taking a similar approach and departing from the PAC-12 conference to enter the Big Ten.
Dana Rettke, the powerhouse middle blocker who led the University of Wisconsin on a thrilling run to the NCAA Division I volleyball championship, has been named Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year, becoming the third Big Ten athlete so honored twice.
The honors keep piling up for Badger stars Johnny Davis and Dana Rettke. The pair were named the 2021-22 Wisconsin Athletes of the Year, UW Athletics announced Monday. This is Davis’ first time earning the honor and Rettke’s second.
When junior midfielder Tim Bielic heard that Neil Jones would be the next University of Wisconsin men’s soccer coach he was nervous, but excited. Nervous because he had already played three years at UW and didn’t know how the transition would go. Excited because he was already familiar with Jones and knew he had a winning resume.
After watching Johnny Davis help Wisconsin win the Maui Invitational in November, Greg Gard suspected Davis’ second season at UW would be his last in college and his next stop would be the NBA.
“When he played well for three games and dominated some good teams,” Gard said, “you kind of knew.”
University of Wisconsin Volleyball Coach Kelly Sheffield has been vocal on social media, advocating for better broadcast coverage of college volleyball during the postseason. “We didn’t have a single match on TV from the end of our regular season through the first two rounds of the tournament,” Sheffield said. “Thirty-some matches we were completely in the dark.”
Editor’s note: June 23 is the 50th anniversary of historic Title IX legislation being passed. This is the second in a series of stories about its impact on the University of Wisconsin.
Title IX gave University of Wisconsin women’s athletes and administrators a legal backing for their pursuit of better opportunities as the teams started under the athletic department umbrella in 1974.
Editor’s note: June 23 is the 50th anniversary of historic Title IX legislation being passed. This is the first in a series of stories about its impact on the University of Wisconsin.
The $3,500 operating budget for the first-year University of Wisconsin women’s track and field team had enough left over for two athletes to travel to the national championship in the spring of 1975.
With the project on track to be completed by the start of Badgers football season, take a look at the updates along the way.
Mark D’Onofrio will make $300,000 this season as the University of Wisconsin’s inside linebackers coach.
Wisconsin has been well represented in the NBA in the past several drafts, and the 2022 iteration of the annual selection process will infuse yet more young talent from the state into the world’s top basketball league.
University of Wisconsin star and La Crosse native Johnny Davis, Milwaukee native and University of Kansas star Ochai Agbaji will no doubt make it four consecutive drafts where a Wisconsinite was picked in the first round.
Success runs in the Hacker family. Wisconsin seventh-year senior Olin Hacker won the 5,000 meter race at the 2022 NCAA National Championship meet. 37 years prior, his father, Tim, won an NCAA championship with Wisconsin in cross country.
The idea of playing at, or perhaps even moving permanently to, the Kohl Center first was presented to Sheffield shortly after he arrived at UW in 2013.
The Big Ten Conference unveiled its 2022 outdoor track and field awards Thursday. Hacker, whose 13-minute, 27.73-second time earned him the 5,000-meter title during the NCAA outdoor championships last week, received the conference’s male track athlete of the year award.
The University of Wisconsin volleyball team will drop the banner for the 2021 NCAA Championship before their home opener against Marquette on Sept. 2. That’s one of the highlights of the 2022 schedule, which was released Tuesday.
University of Wisconsin running backs coach Al Johnson shared the latest look at the progress on the extensive updates to Camp Randall Stadium on social media Tuesday. With the project on track to be completed by the start of Badgers football season, take a look at the updates along the way.
The U.S. beat Canada 2-1 in overtime two years ago in Slovakia to win the title. Last year’s tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament this year was delayed and moved from Sweden to the University of Wisconsin.
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Greg Gard announced the promotion of alum Joe Krabbenhoft on Monday. Krabbenhoft served as an assistant coach under Gard for the past seven seasons, but is now the associate head coach for the Badgers.
The University of Wisconsin basketball programs are heading to the baseball field. American Family Field in Milwaukee is set to host both the men’s and women’s basketball programs for a pair of games Nov. 11, according to a CBS report.
The University of Wisconsin Athletic Board on Friday approved a change to its discipline policy for athletes to close what athletic director Chris McIntosh said was a gap relating to drunken driving offenses.
Eight coaches of University of Wisconsin spring sports had their contracts extended on Friday, including three who now are on five-year deals.
Add another NCAA championship to the University of Wisconsin track and field program, and for that matter, another title overall for the Hacker family. Olin Hacker earned the 5,000-meter title during the NCAA outdoor championships Friday. He crossed the finish line with a first-place time of 13 minutes, 27.73 seconds.
Two of the more dominant players in the history of the Wisconsin football program, both of whom have achieved success off the field, are on the National Football Foundation’s 2023 College Football Hall of Fame ballot:
Offensive tackle Chris McIntosh and defensive back Troy Vincent.
The highest price of a volleyball season ticket will climb from around $7 per match to $20 and will require a mandatory per-seat contribution for new chairback seats being installed this summer at the UW Field House. Women’s hockey season ticket prices will increase by $1 per game to $5 while a cheaper option for youth and seniors at LaBahn Arena has been eliminated.
White seemed like he could be in line for a renaissance last year with then-rookie Mac Jones under center and leading a very conservative offensive approach. Those hopes came crashing down when the University of Wisconsin product suffered a hip subluxation in Week 3 that ultimately led to surgery and kept the veteran from returning to action in 2021. He finished the year with just 132 yards and a score.
The United States will play in front of a home crowd, and despite the gap in time, they return two players from the 2020 gold medal-winning team – Kirsten Simms and Danielle Burgen. Both forwards appeared in all five games for the USA in 2020 with the goal of gaining experience for later years. Simms is headed to the University of Wisconsin next season while Burgen will join the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Paul Chryst has reportedly filled the last open coaching position on his staff, bringing in Mark D’Onofrio onto the University of Wisconsin football team’s sideline.
The University of Wisconsin volleyball team will take a run at setting an NCAA regular-season attendance record during its national title defense. The Badgers will play perennial national power Florida at the Kohl Center on Sept. 16, the team announced Monday.
A group of University of Wisconsin alumni and donors determined to see UW athletics remain competitive in the Big Ten and nationally, have banded together to form “The Varsity Collective.”
The Varsity Collective, LLC launched Saturday with a website touting itself as the “premier destination for Wisconsin student-athletes to identify business opportunities” and “establishing the right outlet for Wisconsin Badger student-athletes to participate in NIL deals.” The collective will allow individuals and businesses to pool money to facilitate NIL deals for UW athletes.
A University of Wisconsin soccer player’s open letter about choosing to care for his mental health while taking a step back from the sport he excelled at has drawn praise from across the country for encouraging more young people to do the same
The consequential issues that will land on incoming UW-Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s desk when she takes over in August involve more than academics … Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and members of his senior leadership team help facilitate the introduction of new university leaders to the group, the conference said in a statement in response to questions.
Each helmet will have a prize associated with it, including tickets to a UW home game, Coach Chryst autographed footballs, Badger gear and gift cards from Bucky’s Locker Room, EatStreet, Toppers Pizza and Culver’s. Three grand prize winners will receive $100 Pick ’N Save gift cards and two tickets to the home game of their choice. Helmets were also hidden in Appleton, Eau Claire, Racine and Kenosha.
The University of Wisconsin competes in the Big Ten, which accommodates up to 76 rowers. But because it also sponsors a varsity lightweight team, in addition to its openweight team, USA TODAY calculated it can accommodate up to 100. The lightweight team competes in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships, which allows up to 16 women in lightweight boats. Using the 50% benchmark, eight more could serve as lightweight reserves.
The Wisconsin football program will commemorate “100 Days to Kickoff” on Thursday with a statewide scavenger hunt, partnering with city parks departments to make it happen.
Add another career first for former University of Wisconsin women’s hockey player Hilary Knight. She was named the Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year by USA Hockey on Tuesday after she led the U.S. Olympic team in scoring.
The University of Wisconsin softball team experienced a spectrum of emotions over about an hour span Sunday in Gainesville, Florida. The Badgers rallied to walk off winners against Georgia Tech before allowing 10 runs in the first inning against Florida in the NCAA Tournament regional title game less than an hour later. The Gators ended UW’s season with an 11-0 victory.
Long before Kevin Zeitler played at the University of Wisconsin and went to a long career in the National Football League, he learned the game during practices on rough grass fields that sat under electric lines just south of Wisconsin Lutheran High School.
Those fields are part of the massive upgrades the school broke ground for Friday morning. The project is scheduled to be complete at the end of August, Lutheran athletic director Jeff Sitz said.
The University of Wisconsin athletic department has lost a family member who contributed to one of the more memorable victories in in the history of the football program.
Jeff Mack Sr. died May 8. He was 68.
Mack played flanker under John Jardine and lettered in 1972, 1973 and 1974. His son, Jeff Mack Jr., played linebacker at UW from 2000 through 2003.
Then, 21-year-old University of Wisconsin athlete and track star Sarah Shulze ended her life on April 13.
Sheridan was among four previous Air Force assistants who broke NCAA rules, according to a report by the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy late last week. Those violations included “providing impermissible benefits and hosting high school prospects during the COVID-19 dead period in 2020.”
The Badgers earned an at-large bid into the tournament Sunday after reaching the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament last week. They will head to Gainesville, Florida, where they will open at 1 p.m. Friday against Georgia Tech in the double-elimination regional. No. 14 seed Florida and Canisius will play in the regional’s other opener at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
The University of Wisconsin’s reworked contract with Tony Granato makes it clear the upcoming season is crucial for the men’s hockey coach. A major change in the contract, released Friday in response to an open records request, is the amount of money UW would owe Granato if it fires him after a future season.
Mental health among student athletes has been thrust into the spotlight after at least five high-profile athletes died by suicide in recent months: Katie Meyer, a star goalie on Stanford’s soccer team; Sarah Shulze, a decorated runner for the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Lauren Bernett, the softball player who helped lead James Madison University to the Women’s College World Series; Robert Martin a lacrosse player at Binghamton University; and Arlana Miller, a cheerleader at Southern University. Others have also been reported, but not confirmed.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team plans to make its first international trip since 2017. The Badgers are scheduled to head to France on Aug. 7 to play four games in Paris, Lyon and Nice before returning home Aug 17.
Former University of Wisconsin players Lauren Carlini and Dana Rettke are among 25 players named to the USA Volleyball roster for this year’s Volleyball Nations League.
Rebecca Blank isn’t sure what’s coming next in college athletics but as she prepares to leave her job as UW-Madison chancellor she said there will be challenges for her successor.
A new book about a women’s sports pioneer at the University of Wisconsin offers an important and overlooked story of the school’s athletic department that adds crucial context for anyone whose idea of Badgers sports history is limited to Alan “The Horse” Ameche and “Badger” Bob Johnson.
The average of 1,157 was 30% lower than the previous season with fans in 2019-20. In between, the Badgers changed coaches — Marisa Moseley replaced Jonathan Tsipis in 2021 — and had games in the 2020-21 season closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crowd sizes for University of Wisconsin women’s hockey games at LaBahn Arena last season fell to the lowest level since 2014-15. Still, more people watched the Badgers than any other NCAA women’s hockey team in 2021-22.
The 2019-20 team played before an average of 11,801. The number fell to 11,335 in 2021-22, when UW recorded its three smallest crowds in 15 seasons of records.
The Badgers played before the smallest crowds on record in their first season of publicly attended games since the start of the pandemic.
