Barry Alvarez runs Wisconsin athletes. That is a literal and figurative statement. He is the Athletic Director of the university so he oversees everything. Alvarez also is the voice of Wisconsin athletics, and local media does not criticize him often. It is more of a faux pas to say something mean about Alvarez versus doing your job about being unbiased as journalists. Alvarez announced on Thursday that they will not be honoring any of the spring sports seniors scholarships in 2021 meaning they get robbed of their senior year. This is a heartless move by Alvarez.

Wisconsin only has 10 spring sports, but none of them are moneymakers like football, basketball, or hockey. If they did have a moneymaker in the spring, would Alvarez being make this same decision? This looks like someone who is trying to save money and squeeze out smaller sports on campus. This is not fair to them. The only team where there could be an issue with overflow is the track & field team. But Alvarez didn’t even cite overflow, he just said they should move on. Be more of out of touch, you cannot.

For most of these sports, there isn’t a new step. You’re done after college. It’s unlikely you’re good enough to compete in the Olympics or be on the PGA or LPGA Tour. The fact that Alvarez decided to do his best Judge Judy impression is an embarrassment to University of Wisconsin. He offered little remorse in his statement and did not seem to care about these individuals.

I’m in the camp that sports will be back sooner rather than later, but if Fall sports don’t happen, will Alvarez do the same thing with the football team? Would he cut them out from having another chance at glory with their university? I would think not.

Charlie.