The Barry Alvarez rant towards Wisconsin fans being "disrespectful" and "not loyal" has made its rounds on the internet. There are very mixed reactions to what he had to say, but most fans were frustrated with Alavrez's disrespect towards them. The biggest problem, or maybe better said, his biggest miss in his rant, is that he doesn't quite understand the fan perspective, and he's wrong to blast them.
Is it wrong for Wisconsin fans to want to win? Is it wrong for fans to hold a team and a coach accountable? Should fans not care about the product on the field? How should fans react when their team is plummeting? Should they roll over and act like it's fine?
Even if Wisconsin wasn't a proud program, should fans not want more or demand more? Isn't that the point of sports in the first place? To want to win, to shoot for beating your rivals, and want championships?
Barry Alvarez's comments on Wisconsin fans reeks of being out of touch with reality
It seems as if Barry Alvarez has missed this reality. That he expects fans to be fine with mediocrity, or even worse. The product under Luke Fickell hasn't been good since he arrived. Has it not been long enough to hold him accountable? How would fans even go about doing that if not for chants, boos, and publicly demanding more?
If Wisconsin fans are simply expected to roll over and just be fine with whatever, then what's the point of being a fan? Ok, enough questions and maybe a little dose of reality. Barry Alvarez is personally invested in propping up Chris McIntosh, his friend and successor. He wants fans to have patience but it's been long enough.
Good coaches can turn around a program in three to four years. Great coaches can do it in two. We are now staring down the barrel of being asked to deal with year five (next season) under Fickell without any noticeable improvement. In fact, you could argue that the last two years, it's gotten worse. Thus, fans are justified in demanding more. Boo, chant, whatever. Luke Fickell even understands it, he said, he expects it from this proud fanbase.
It's time for Barry Alvarez to wake up and realize that what makes this fanbase so great is that they won't just deal with a crappy football team. They want something better than below average.