New Badgers AD Shawn Eichorst Provides Early Takes on Luke Fickell, Greg Gard

One of them he's quite familiar with already, and one of them is still mostly a stranger.

Either way, new Wisconsin Athletics Director Shawn Eichorst must rapidly acclimate himself with the Badgers' two most important head coaches, Luke Fickell and Greg Gard.

Upon his hiring, Eichorst stated that he's already spoken with every head coach in the Badgers' athletics department. But it's no secret that football — and to a lesser extent basketball — is what "pulls the train" of the entire athletics department, as he put it.

Thus, Eichorst's relationship with both Fickell and Gard is crucial. The AD must be on the same page as both skippers, and he must have a pulse on each program, an excellent feel for what's working and what's not.

At his introductory presser, Eichorst provided some initial thoughts on both coaches.

Luke Fickell

Fickell is the aforementioned coach with whom Eichorst had no prior relationship with. Fickell, of course, has only been on campus for three years, and didn't cross paths with the new AD during his previous stint at Wisconsin.

He's conceded that most of their early conversations have been of the personal variety, discussing family and things of that nature in order to build their personal relationship ahead of their professional one.

Still, Eichorst appears to like what he sees from the much-maligned coach entering his fourth year at the helm of Badger football.

“I am so encouraged by my conversations with him. Just a good person, high character, lot of integrity. I think he also shares this perspective of what college is about. Obviously, he’s won every place he’s been, so my expectation is more of me than him. I need to pour into him, learn more about his program, how he has things set up, how his athletes are taken care of," he said.

After three extrmely disappointing seasons, Fickell is obviously on the hot seat no matter who his boss is. But it'll be interesting if the lack of familiarity between the two leads to a longer leash for Fickell as Eichorst gets to know him, or if it gives him even less margin for error given their lack of a pre-existing relationship.

Greg Gard

While Fickell is on the hot seat, Gard is more universally appreciated in the Dairy State. Sure, there's the token "Fire Gard" crowd that rears its ugly head a few times a year — usually after what's become a recurring early exit in March Madness — but the hoops skipper is in a much better spot in the eyes of the fanbase and his bosses.

Gard has proven he can adapt to the times, and he's facilitated increasingly electrifying offenses year after year while nailing the transfer portal time and time again. Gard has also fully embraced overseas recruiting, and Wisconsin has made deep and robust inroads internationally, especially Down Under.

Eichorst and Gard go way back, as the two overlapped in the AD's first stint at Wisconsin when Gard was still an assistant under Bo Ryan.

“Greg and I have a relationship. He’s somebody that I gravitated to early on because of the way he thinks about analytics. It’s something that I think about relative to the game. And truth be told, when I had the opportunity to go to Miami, I spent a lot of time with Bo and Greg about what a coach would look like at a place like Miami, and we hit a home run with Jim Larranaga," Eichorst said.

I learned a lot from Greg, I still have a lot of the same notes that we hammered out over at (Madison bar and grill) The Main Depot over a beer and a burger."

This relationship is obviously on stronger footing, and despite the recent postseason struggles, this is a program pretty clearly on the rise. It'll be fascinating to see how Eichorst can continue to elevate Badger basketball.

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