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Barry Alvarez doesn't think Wisconsin Badgers need turnaround: 'This is not a rebuild'

No one is denying that this season's Wisconsin Badgers team has been historically bad. The bigger debate is how much damage has actually been done.
Lorin Cox|
Former UW athletic director Barry Alvarez walks the sidelines before the Badgers' game against Michigan on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Former UW athletic director Barry Alvarez walks the sidelines before the Badgers' game against Michigan on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

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Wisconsin Badgers

No one is denying that this season's Wisconsin Badgers team has been historically bad. The bigger debate is how much damage has actually been done.

Former athletic director Barry Alvarez believes it's more of a bump in the road than a sign of major issues.

On his radio show for ESPN Madison, he refuted the idea that the Badgers need to turn things around and rebuild.

He thinks the program's winning pedigree still holds strong.

"This is not a program that you have to turn around. This is not a rebuild program," Alvarez said. "This is a program that has won."

He again gave his endorsement of Luke Fickell as the right man for the job. Alvarez's main complaint is that he would like to see the program put a little more emphasis on in-state recruiting.

The frustration for Badgers fans is that it has now been multiple seasons of losing under Fickell. The longer they go without that consistent winning, the harder it is to not feel like a rebuild.

"Turning around a program is a program that is down and out, that's been losing, and turning around to win," Alvarez said. "[Wisconsin] is a program that is used to winning and going to bowl games ... This is not a complete turnaround. This is getting things right."

Related: Barry Alvarez again critical of Wisconsin Badgers fans wanting to fire Chris McIntosh and Luke Fickell

Wisconsin has felt "down and out" for all of this season and some of the year before. Losing is becoming more expected than winning.

That's the beginning stages of a program that will need rebuilding and turning around. Alvarez doesn't think UW is there yet, but at the very least, they're getting close.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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