Wisconsin AD Alvarez set to retire

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez is retiring after a three-decade run in which he transformed the university’s football team and later guided the Badgers to their greatest all-around sports success in school history. The 74-year-old Alvarez said Tuesday he would retire June 30. Alvarez arrived at Wisconsin in 1990 as football coach and turned one of the Big Ten’s weakest programs into one of its strongest. He became AD in 2004. Alvarez coached Wisconsin from 1990-2005 and set a program record for career coaching victories and guided the team to three Rose Bowl wins. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Other Wisconsin programs had similar success during his stint as the Badgers’ AD. Wisconsin teams won 16 national titles under Alvarez, though five of those came in women’s lightweight rowing, a sport whose championships aren’t sanctioned by the NCAA. Wisconsin’s most recent national title came in women’s hockey this year. The Badgers also have won a total of 74 conference, regular-season or tournament titles with Alvarez as AD.