BEHIND THE DESK
B A R RY A LVA R EZ • UW DIREC TOR OF AT H L ET IC S
You never know what will happen next
T
he summer is a fun time in
our business. It's a chance
to reflect on the past year
and also start to look forward to
what's coming up the next season.
In that vein, I have to first thank
all our fans for their tremendous
support throughout the 2012-13
athletic year. More than 1 million people attended our home
events, from Camp Randall to the
Kohl Center, the Field House and
Goodman Diamond. I can tell you
that we are the envy of a number
of schools around the country with
that type of support.
Obviously it was another successful year on the field with Big
Ten titles in cross country, football
and men's indoor track and tournament championships in men's
hockey (WCHA) and softball (Big
Ten). Seventeen of our teams competed in the postseason.
In cross country it was our Big
Ten-record 14th-straight title
and the football team set a school
record with its third-consecutive
championship. In men's track we
have won 17 league titles in the
past 14 years.
However, how many people
would have thought the men's
hockey team would have to make
space in its trophy case for the
Broadmoor Trophy after starting
the season 1-10-1? Or that the softball team, which won just 15 games
four years ago, would win the first
Big Ten tournament title in school
history?
10 » VARSITY
JUN E 20, 2013
My point is, you never know
what's next. Which team or student-athlete will make that leap to
the championship or All-American
level?
While getting to the top of the
mountain is tough, sometimes
it is even tougher to sustain that
success. That's what makes the
success of our men's cross country and track and field teams so
impressive.
On that point, I'd like to recognize head coach Ed Nuttycombe,
who recently announced his
retirement. In a word, his coaching career at Wisconsin has been
incredible. I'm not sure what else
to say about a man that guided his
teams to more conference titles
than any other coach in any sport
in Big Ten history.
The men's track team is one of
four teams that will be welcoming new head coaches in 2013-14,
along with football (Gary Andersen), volleyball (Kelly Sheffield) and
women's tennis (Tina Samara). I
know all of our fans are very interested to see what's next with those
programs.
In the context of an individual
season, you can never predict
what's next from game to game.
The great moments from the 201213 season from our home events
are almost too numerous to list.
Kenzel Doe's second-half punt
return for a touchdown that
sparked the prime time win over
Utah State got Camp Randall rock-
ing.
Everyone at the Kohl Center
on Feb. 9 will always remember
where they were when Ben Brust
hit his half-court heave to send the
Michigan game into overtime.
The women's hoops team provided some Kohl Center magic of
its own, knocking off No. 7 Penn
State with a last-second basket
from Tiera Stephen.
A key win in the softball team's
magical run came courtesy of a
Mary Massei walk-off home run
against Ohio State on April 20.
Our fans also got to witness
first-hand the development of
some great young talent. I imagine
years from now fans will remember if they were in the stands for
Melvin Gordon's first TD run, Sam
Dekker's first dunk that got the
Kohl Center crowd going or Nic
Kerdiles' first game-winning goal.
Those three are just an example of
the tremendous student-athletes
that are our fans have the opportunity to see day-in and day-out.
Our home venues are among the
best in the country. Thanks to our
fans, the atmosphere at our games
is second to none. Just ask USA
Today and Mike DeCourcy of The
Sporting News. And our teams
compete year-in and year-out not
only with the best in the Big Ten
but also the best in the country.
You never know what will happen next, but I can't wait to find
out. I'm sure you feel the same
way.
