| Barry Alvarez | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport(s) | Football | |
| Current position | ||
| Title | Athletic director | |
| Team | Wisconsin | |
| Biographical details | ||
| Born | December 30, 1946 | |
| Place of birth | Langeloth, Pennsylvania | |
| Playing career | ||
| 1966–1968 | Nebraska | |
| Position(s) | Linebacker | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1971–1973 1974–1975 1976–1978 1979–1986 1987 1988–1989 1990–2005 |
Lincoln NE HS (NE) (assistant) Lexington HS (NE) Mason City HS (IA) Iowa (LB) Notre Dame (LB) Notre Dame (DC) Wisconsin |
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| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | ||
| 2004–present | Wisconsin | |
| Head coaching record | ||
| Overall | 118–73–4 | |
| Bowls | 8–3 | |
| Statistics | ||
| College Football Data Warehouse | ||
| Accomplishments and honors | ||
| Championships | ||
| 3 Big Ten (1993, 1998–1999) | ||
| Awards | ||
| AFCA Coach of the Year (1993) Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1993) 2x Big Ten Coach of the Year (1993, 1998) |
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Inducted in 2010 (profile) |
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Barry Alvarez (born December 30, 1946) is a former American football player and coach and currently the Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons from 1990 to 2005, compiling a career college football record of 118–73–4. He has the longest head coaching tenure and the most wins in Wisconsin Badgers football history. Alvarez stepped down as head coach after the 2005 season, remaining as athletic director. Alvarez was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2010.
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Barry Alvarez is a graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he played linebacker in the 1960s under Bob Devaney, who became one of his major coaching influences along with Hayden Fry and Lou Holtz. He later became a head coach at Lexington, Nebraska High School and then Mason City High School in Iowa where the Mohawks won the 1978 class 4A state title, 15–13, over Dubuque Hempstead before becoming an assistant coach at University of Iowa and then at the University of Notre Dame.
In 1990, Alvarez was named head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. He inherited a program that had not had a winning season since 1984, and had only won seven games in Big Ten play in that time.
After three less-than-distinguished seasons rebuilding the awful program he had inherited, including a 1–10 record in his first year, the Badgers steamrolled through the 1993 season, notching a 10–1–1 mark and their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1963, along with only the second bowl win in school history. During his tenure, the Badgers won or shared three Big Ten titles and won three Rose Bowls. His best teams were the 1998 and 1999 units. The 1998 team notched the first 11-win season in school history, while the 1999 team won the school's first outright Big Ten title in 38 years.
Alvarez replaced Pat Richter as athletic director in 2004. In 2000, Alvarez and his wife Cindy endowed a $250,000 football scholarship at the university.
Alvarez concluded his career at Wisconsin with a win over the Auburn Tigers in the 2006 Capital One Bowl, bringing his all-time record at Wisconsin to 118–73–4 (.615), easily in the modern era for the school. It also brought his record in bowl games to 8–3, the best winning percentage ever with a minimum of 11 bowl games coached.
Alvarez is the only Big Ten Conference coach to win consecutive Rose Bowls and one of six coaches, regardless of conference, to win at least three Rose Bowls (1994, 1999, and 2000). Of these six, only two are undefeated at the Rose Bowl: Alvarez and John Robinson. After the 2011 Rose Bowl, Alvarez remains as the only Rose Bowl winning coach in the history of the Wisconsin football program, with three Rose Bowl losses prior to his arrival (1953, 1960, and 1963) and a subsequent loss in the 2011 Rose Bowl.
Alvarez is the only Big Ten coach with consecutive wins over the Ohio State Buckeyes during Jim Tressel's coaching tenure there. He finished his career with a 3–1 record over Tressel.[1]
Alvarez had six seasons with at least nine wins at Wisconsin. Prior to his arrival, the Badgers had recorded only four in nearly 100 seasons (although Wisconsin has only played a 9+ game per season scheduled since 1942, so 9+ wins per season wasn't possible prior to that time).
On October 13, 2006, a bronze statue of Alvarez was unveiled in the Kellner Plaza of Camp Randall Stadium. The statue honoring Alvarez had been announced the previous year, at his last home game as head coach.[2]
During the 2006–07 bowl season, Alvarez worked as a color commentator/analyst for Fox Sports. He worked on both the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and 2007 BCS National Championship Game.[3]
Alvarez was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame on December 30, 2009 in Pasadena, California. On May 27, 2010 it was announced that Alvarez would be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the 2010 class. It was further revealed that the induction vote for Alvarez was unanimous.[4]
In 1994, Babcock Dairy Store, housed in Babcock Hall, (home of the UW–Madison's Department of Food Science, College of Ag and Life Sciences) developed an ice cream flavor called "Berry Alvarez", a mixture of raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry, in honor of the coach. In 2001, Hispanic Business Magazine named Barry Alvarez one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics."[5]
Alvarez was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2010 it was revealed that he had invested $600,000 in the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Nevin Shapiro.[6]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Conference) (1990–2005) | |||||||||
| 1990 | Wisconsin | 1–10 | 0–8 | 10th | |||||
| 1991 | Wisconsin | 5–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 1992 | Wisconsin | 5–6 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| 1993 | Wisconsin | 10–1–1 | 6–1–1 | T–1st | W Rose | 5 | 6 | ||
| 1994 | Wisconsin | 7–4–1 | 4–3–1 | 4th | W Hall of Fame | ||||
| 1995 | Wisconsin | 4–5–2 | 3–4–1 | T–7th | |||||
| 1996 | Wisconsin | 8–5 | 3–5 | 7th | W Copper | ||||
| 1997 | Wisconsin | 8–5 | 5–3 | 5th | L Outback | ||||
| 1998 | Wisconsin | 11–1 | 7–1 | T–1st | W Rose † | 5 | 6 | ||
| 1999 | Wisconsin | 10–2 | 7–1 | 1st | W Rose † | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2000 | Wisconsin | 9–4 | 4–4 | T–5th | W Sun | 24 | 23 | ||
| 2001 | Wisconsin | 5–7 | 3–5 | T–8th | |||||
| 2002 | Wisconsin | 8–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | W Alamo | ||||
| 2003 | Wisconsin | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–7th | L Music City | ||||
| 2004 | Wisconsin | 9–3 | 6–2 | 3rd | L Outback | 18 | 17 | ||
| 2005 | Wisconsin | 10–3 | 5–3 | T–3rd | W Capital One | 15 | 15 | ||
| Wisconsin: | 118–73–4 | 65–60–3 | |||||||
| Total: | 118–73–4 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. |
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