Wisconsin Badgers
MADISON, WI (WSAU) — Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez is just as frustrated as anyone else about the decision to postpone the 2020 Big Ten football season along with all other fall sports.
“It hasn’t been fun. I know how much our student-athletes want to play and enjoy playing,” said Alvarez on Tuesday. “Watching practice the last few weeks, watching them on the field and watching the coaches and how they interact. You don’t feel good about it. I just have a hollow feeling.”
The former Badger football coach turned AD said like every other decision these days it was made with the health and safety of the student-athletes first.
Alvarez adds that at this time the school isn’t looking to cut sports as many other schools have. But he did say further reductions in staff salaries are likely to come in the next few weeks.
“We went after the highest-salaried coaches in the department initially, but we may go deeper than that. But, those are things that we will sit down as administration to make those final decisions [later on.]”
The department had previously announced that its top 20 wage earners had agreed to take pay cuts.
The Big Ten announced that football and all other fall sports would be canceled this year with an eye towards playing in the spring. The PAC-12 made a similar announcement just hours later.
On Wednesday the Big 12 Conference announced they do plan to play football this fall. The other leagues in the so-called Power 5, the SEC and ACC, have indicated that they plan to play as well.
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