Barry Alvarez captured years of anger at Chris McIntosh with nicest takedown possible

Chris McIntosh did not get things going in the right direction, especially for Wisconsin football. That is a pretty set fact; if anything, he took things a few steps back. While leaving, he did seem to find a way to get more money going into the program, but he left when Badger football was as low as it's been in decades. Former Wisconsin athletic director and football coach Barry Alvarez helped usher him into the role to replace himself, but it seems as if he may regret it now.

He joined ESPN Madison, as he often does, and was asked the question about how fans will view McIntosh in hindsight. Especially as McIntosh was the one who replaced Alvarez. Barry was taken aback by the question and called it an ambush, which is the first sign that he has incredibly strong and even frustrated feelings about McIntosh. He went on to say, "Take a look at it yourself...are we better or are we worse?"

The Badger legend then said he had his own feelings on it but wouldn't publicly air his thoughts. Yet he continued to talk about how fans should judge McIntosh for themselves; oh, and he added, "Those are the facts, and see what happened when he was here, where we were before that, and where he leaves us."Alvarez said, "I know this, I have confidence in Shawn [Eichorst], and I'm confident Shawn will do a great job."

Barry Alvarez holds back on his feelings of Chris McIntosh while actually revealing them

Related: The Big Ten just made it nearly impossible for Lance Mason to return to Wisconsin

It may have been the kindest way to say that he isn't happy about the job McIntosh did. For it's clear that Wisconsin football is worse now than it was when McIntosh took over. This is exactly the barometer that Alvarez says to use. So, it's clear from Barry. Add in the fact that he's "confident" in the new athletic director, Shawn Eichorst, and it's the cherry on top.

Alvarez has been mostly quiet about things on this front, but he's had his occasional rant or strong opinion on it. He's in a weird spot because he was part of picking McIntosh for his position. This makes him have even stronger opinions about the job that McIntosh did, but also more guarded in his approach to answering the questions publicly.

At the end of the day, Badger fans will agree with him. McIntosh took a good thing, burned it, and then tried to rebuild it, all while not doing the hard work of getting with the times. McIntosh was a main component of not getting things going with NIL, pay-to-play, or any of the modern changes in NCAA Football. And that alone is a big problem, and one that he did try to fix on his way out, but he still left while the program was in a hole.

And while McIntosh needs to be evaluated for all the sports in the athletic department, he gets some grace there. Most fans will hold him to the standard of ruining football. Hopefully, Luke Fickell and Shawn Eichorst can fix it, but for now, Alvarez is right. Judge for yourself.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow