A Manitowoc Lincoln High School graduate and the only 4-time NCAA Academic All-American at the University of Wisconsin reflected on Tuesday’s retirement announcement by Athletic Director Barry Alvarez.
Don Davey summarizes the impact that Coach Alvarez made on the Badgers sports programs since 1990.
“Listen, find me a more remarkable turnaround of not only a football program but of an entire athletic program in NCAA history. What’s he’s orchestrated at UW is nothing short of remarkable. I’m going to miss him personally as a leader as will the state of Wisconsin. But rest assured he’s been preparing for this for a long time and he’ll make sure there’s a seamless transition and good leadership to step in and fill his shoes.”
Davey played on Coach Alvarez’s 1st football team and vividly recalls Barry’s message to the returning players from Don Morton’s program.
“I was sitting in the very front row..he came walking in that room and said gentleman sit up straight in your chair take your hat off, if you’ve got an earring in take it out. I’m Barry Alvarez, I’m your new head football coach and I’m here to win. In one sentence he completely changed the tone and the attitude and the culture of that football team.”
It started with what Davey remembers hearing as the “most brutal offseason program you’ve been through in your lives.”
A search committee will now choose a successor and Don quipped, “I’ve been getting some nudging…from some other donors to throw ‘my’ hat into the ring as an A-D candidate.”
Davey continues, “But, this is going to be a tough job. They always say you never want to follow a legend and there’s no bigger legend than Barry Alvarez, right? But it’s also a very attractive job with the Badgers being a powerhouse and Wisconsin has terrific facilities.”
Davey said he and Alvarez text and talk quite often, adding he’s become a very close friend over the years. In fact, Don stated, “Other than my father (Ken Davey who died recently), Barry probably had as big an influence on me as any other coach or mentor I’ve had in my life.”
