Barry Elected to College Hall of Fame

“Let me just say this… they better get their season tickets right now, because before long they probably won’t be able to”  those are the words that Barry Alvarez sputtered on January 2nd 1990.  That day Pat Richter introduced Barry Alvarez as the new Head Coach for the Wisconsin Badger Football team.  At the time no one really took those words to heart as Alvarez was taking over a floundering program that was on a spiral downward.  In 1989 the Wisconsin Badgers averaged just 41,734 fans for their 6 home games, by 1994 their averaged attendance exceeded 75,000.  The team managed just 9 total wins in the four previous seasons before Barry.

It wasn’t instant success however for Alvarez as his first campaign the Badgers managed just 1 victory, and by the end of the 1992 season Barry had just 11 wins in his first three seasons as head coach.  1993 was the season that the Barry Alvarez tradition at Wisconsin really took off.  In ’93 the Wisconsin Badgers won a then school record 10 games and took home the Big Ten title for the first time since 1962.  The season ended with a victory over UCLA in the Rose Bowl, which was the first Rose Bowl victory in school history.  Barry also took home his own hardware that season earning both Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year.

The success just continued as when it was all said and done Alvarez brought home three Big Ten Coach of the Year awards, three Big Ten Titles, and was a perfect 3 - 0 in the Rose Bowl, and is the only coach to win back to back Rose Bowls.  Barry finished with 118 victories and won at a 61% clip.  Alvarez had six seasons with at least 9 victories, in the nearly 100 years prior to Barry’s arrival the Badgers managed just four 9 win seasons!  What might be most impressive on the laundry list of success was his winning ways during the Bowl season as Alvarez went 8 - 3 which is the highest winning percentage of any coach with at least 11 bowl games played!  

Needless to say what Barry Alvarez did at the University of Wisconsin is one of the greatest coaching jobs ever, and in the end a man with no Head Coaching experience who showed up and told everyone they better get their season tickets now or else has made Wisconsin Football a power house tradition that will continue for years to come.  Congratulations Barry Alvarez and thank you again for putting Badger Football on the map!