Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin Agree on New Contract: Details, Comments and Reaction

The University of Wisconsin announced on Wednesday they have signed athletic director Barry Alvarez to a contract extension through Jan. 31, 2021. 

Alvarez, who has been the school's AD since 2004, previously coached Wisconsin's football program for 16 full seasons, compiling a 117-74-4 record from 1990 to 2005, per Sports-Reference.com. 

Before taking over the program 26 years ago, Wisconsin's football team was the laughingstock of the NCAA, as it won just nine games from 1986 to 1989. 

It didn't get much better in his first year when the Badgers went 1-10, but by the 1993 season, Wisconsin was 10-1 and defeated UCLA for the 1994 Rose Bowl title. 

In total, Alvarez won three Rose Bowls, three Big Ten championships and raised the program's national ranking to as high as No. 4 in the AP Polls in three different seasons. 

Alvarez reflected on his tenure as head coach with Jesse Temple of Fox Sports Wisconsin:

"

We went through tough times. We stuck with it. We never compromised who we were and what we were all about. I told people from Day 1, you can go back and read it. I told them just be patient. We're going to build on a good foundation, and we've been good ever since. For us to go to six Rose Bowls from '94 through two years ago [2012], that's unbelievable. And three of them in the '90s? Win three championships? From the s--ttiest program maybe in the country to three Rose Bowls in the '90s? That's ridiculous.

"

His ability to turn around the program led Wisconsin to hire him as AD while he remained head coach from 2004-05. 

Since leaving his post as coach, Wisconsin football has continued its success over the past decade. It has won fewer than nine games twice during that span while winning four bowl games. 

The Badgers have gotten off on the right foot this season under second-year coach Paul Chryst despite not being ranked in the Top 25 during the preseason.

On Saturday night, they upset No. 5 LSU 16-14, which propelled them to No. 10 in the AP Poll's Week 2 rankings, via Wisconsin Football:

Like the football team, Wisconsin's other athletic programs have also enjoyed a successful run with Alvarez as the leader.

In total, Wisconsin athletics have won 56 Big Ten crowns and 14 national championships since Alvarez took over, while the football, volleyball and men's cross country programs currently rank in the nation's Top 10. 

Stats courtesy of UWBadgers.com.