Wisconsin should be able to have it all. Great academics, outstanding athletics and home to one of the best college towns in America. However, when one of those areas gets out of whack, the entire system falls apart. That is clearly the case with the state of the Wisconsin football program. It has been on a downward slide for several years now, almost to the point where it has gotten unbearable.
Unfortunately, not even utter incompetency out of the athletic department seems to have garnered the attention of university president Jennifer Mnookin. She is more concerned about academics than the sorry state of its football team. Badgers football is being led by the Wisconsin version of Dumb and Dumber. So who is Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas between Luke Fickell and Chris McIntosh?
Rather than get mad about Fickell and McIntosh, let's apply Hanlon's Razor to the equation and not mistake incompetence for malice. If Mnookin wants to put her nose into a booklet, pamphlet or something, she should take a gander at this study put forth by the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE). CROWE has proof that bad athletics can ruin an entire university.
This is exactly what Wisconsin alum Dan "Big Cat" Katz had to say on Wake Up Barstool previously.
The economic downside to bad athletics cannot destroy Wisconsin
Per CROWE's research, "the football team's decline could threaten other sports, student applications, research output, the university's overall ranking and more." They estimate a $160 million economic loss to the city of Madison and $280 million to the state if the football program continues on its downward spiral into a hopeless abyss. Again, a lot of people's connection to the school is this team...
Not only does football largely subsidize other athletic programs, but having a team worth celebrating increases alumni donations and student applications by eight percent. Little becomes big over time. Getting effectively an eight-percent economic growth rate, year over year because of quality athletics is a rate the university cannot overlook. You would not want to interrupt this compounding.
It is not easy to put a number on these sort of things, but give CROWE tremendous credit for seemingly doing the improbable here. When a school has an athletic program that not only cuts through regionally, but nationally in a good way, you cannot put a price on that. It may not directly make its way to the classroom, but the downside of not having additional funds come in is so brutal.
The standard has been set on the gridiron years ago, but it is up to the university to get back to it.