Six months ago this passionate Wisconsin football fan looked upon Head Coach Barry Alvarez and the football team with frustration and disgust. I couldn't understand what was happening to the team I had steadfastly followed since the miraculous 1993 Rose Bowl season. Over the past couple of years it seemed as though your average Badger football player was as likely to find himself in jail as in the end zone. Or, in Anthony Davis' case, getting hurt off the field instead of on it. I don't need to rehash the numerous details--most of you are well aware of the various indiscretions, and if you're not, a little time with Google can probably clue you in.
When Pat Richter retired and Alvarez became athletic director last April, I had my doubts. UW had all the disciplinary problems of big-time collegiate football programs and absolutely none of the success, going a pedestrian 20-19 from 2001-'03. If Barry could not control his football team--much less win consistently--who was to say he could handle the entire athletic department?
Unfortunately for Alvarez, the very weekend that he took over, police arrested former UW wide receiver Ernest Mason for the second time in four months for a violent run-in with his girlfriend. After reading yet another disheartening police report, I had had enough.
Using whatever miniscule power of the press this column carries, I hammered Alvarez, the football team and the seemingly worthless Student-Athlete Discipline Policy.
I generalized the entire team in terms of the few who had stepped afoul of the law. Some of the players noticed, and voiced their displeasure via e-mail. No one has ever been so grateful to receive hate mail as I was--it showed me the players did care about the team's image. It gave me renewed reason to cheer on Saturdays this fall.
What a difference six months makes. Only Ryan MacMurchy of the men's hockey team has made news this fall for violating the discipline policy, and even that was just a little bar fight. At this point Alvarez seems completely capable of handling the entire athletic department along with his coaching duties.
The football team is off to a 5-0 start, but the most important stat as we approach the halfway point of the season is zero--not just zero losses, but zero arrests. It finally looks like we have a team to be proud of. A team for which everyone's main focus is actually on the field, not off.
Of course that means we're all looking at you, John Stocco. Visions of roses have begun to obscure my thoughts, but you've got to get better at throwing on the run if we're going to make it to Pasadena.
mtworringer@wisc.edu.
