Barry Alvarez was Wisconsin fans everywhere over Chris McIntosh jumping ship

Barry Alvarez was surprised to hear about Chris McIntosh's departure from Wisconsin. He told ESPN Madison that he learned about it from the news, like every other Wisconsin fan. Which is a shocking admission to say, as Alvarez basically hand-picked Chris McIntosh to take his place. It seems as if their relationship isn't in the same place as it used to be.

There's no distance in the relationship that McIntosh didn't tip Alvarez off to his departure in advance. Even Luke Fickell said he knew about a week early. So that's surprising, but Alvarez pulled out one of his old quotes to talk about what is next: "Don't flinch."

Barry Alvarez was surprised to hear about Chris McIntosh stepping down as Wisconsin athletic director

Related: Wisconsin Badgers fans mock congratulatory Chris McIntosh social media post

Alvarez is basically one of the fans now. From his surprise about McIntosh, learning it from the news, but also then basically shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Let's move on. "I'm not disappointed that he left. That's his choice; if he doesn't want to be the athletic director, we will move on. We will have a number of great candidates. I think that it's a tremendous job."

It doesn't sound like a guy who has a ton of sorrow over the departure of McIntosh. Just like the vast majority of Wisconsin fans. It's time to find one of those great candidates. While the athletic department needs some help, it's still one of the premier athletic director jobs in the country.

Wisconsin has multiple championship-level programs, a loyal fanbase, willing donors (that McIntosh didn't seem to tap into well), great facilities, and is in one of the best cities in the country. It's a job that many up-and-coming athletic directors would call a dream job. Now, the trick is to find the right one and bring them in to help get things squared away, and like Alvarez said, "move forward."

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