Throwback Thursday Tribute: Coach Barry Alvarez

The Throwback Thursday series will highlight historic individuals who were a part of the Wisconsin Football or Wisconsin Basketball programs. This article will feature the legendary Barry Alvarez.

Barry Alvarez started off his tenure as the Wisconsin football coach with what seemed to be an outrageous comment:  “They better get season tickets right now because, before long, they probably won’t be able to.”

At the time, Badger fans probably could have rolled their eyes and expected the same poor play from the football program as always. Wisconsin football was in a bad place. They rarely put a competitive team on the field. They spent the previous three years (1987-1989) in the cellar of the Big Ten. They won only six of the 33 games they played in those three years.

The lack of success on the football field caused the attendance to drop dramatically to just 43,734 fans per game, which was the lowest attendance average since 1945. It was also a big reason why the athletic department was in debt $2.1 million. The man Pat Richter had hired had a tall task ahead of him, but Barry Alvarez was up for the challenge.

His first big task was to get the fans to come back. One way he accomplished this was by going around to high school football coaches and telling them to bring a busload of their players to Madison for games, and he’d give them discounts on tickets. He would even buy tickets himself and give them to the Boys and Girls Clubs. They would do anything to get people into the stadium for gamedays.

He also had to change the culture around the football program. He needed to make them more competitive. He knew if they were better, more people would come to watch. Alvarez had a brutally difficult offseason conditioning program implemented in 1990. More than 50 players from the previous year left the program. He created a culture based on hard work and a desire to win in Madison.

He recruited blue-collar players, players who were didn’t get the attention of other big programs, something that is still seen in Wisconsin’s recruiting today. He also made sure that in-state players were coming to Wisconsin, and not leaving the state to play somewhere else.

When the time came for Alvarez’s first season to begin, he had a very young team. They finished just 1-10. But on the plus side, attendance was on the rise again. People were starting to feel some optimism about Barry Alvarez and his football program, even with the one-win season.

The next two season, the Badgers had consecutive seasons with 5-6 records, just missing bowl games. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was progressing. Barry Alvarez had a plan and it was working.

By 1993, the Wisconsin Badgers were here. They finished the season 10-1-1 with wins over #24 Michigan and #25 Michigan State, and a tie with #3 Ohio State. This was the first team in program history to win double-digit games in a season. The season ended with the teams first-ever Rose Bowl victory.

As the head coach of the Badgers, Barry Alvarez went on to have a career coaching record of 117-74-4. He appeared in 13 bowl games, three of which were Rose Bowls (3-0), and had a 9-4 bowl game record. He stepped down as head coach after the 2004 season, handing the reigns to Bret Bielema. After coaching, he became the athletic director for Wisconsin, taking over for Pat Richter. He still holds this position today.

He did, however, make two more appearances as the head coach of the football team. In 2012 when his predecessor Bret Bielema left abruptly to take the job at the University of Arkansas after the regular season, the Badgers didn’t have a coach for their bowl game, the Rose Bowl. The seniors on the team asked Alvarez to come back and coach one more game for them. He took them up on their offer, leading the Badgers into his fourth Rose Bowl. The Badgers would eventually lose to Stanford, 20-14 in a close and hard-fought game.

The next season, Alvarez hired Gary Andersen to be the new head coach of the Badgers. After only two seasons Andersen left the Badgers and again, the team didn’t have a coach for their upcoming bowl game. The players again asked Alvarez to lead them on the field, and again he obliged. In his last game as the head Wisconsin football coach, the Badgers defeated the Auburn Tigers 34-31.

These days, when you think of Wisconsin football, you think of a steady and successful program. There are many Badger fans including myself that weren’t even born before the Alvarez era who think an eight-win season is a down year.

Expectations in Madison are high. Fans care deeply about their Badger football team and Camp Randall is regarded as one of the best college football venues in America. We all have Barry Alvarez to thank for that. ‘The Godfather’ brought Wisconsin football to prominence and instilled a culture that will keep them there for what is hopefully a long time.

All stats are courtesy of sports-reference.com.