Three Unfiltered Takes About Wisconsin's New AD Hire Shawn Eichorst

After something of a long, quiet search for a new athletic director, Wisconsin has made a hire — and the reaction appears to be overwhelmingly negative.

Everyone from national media to local media to run-of-the-mill fans have expressed their displeasure in the addition of Shawn Eichorst, while a select few appear to be cautiously optimistic.

Of course, no one knows more than the armchair quarterback — or, in this case, the armchair University Chancellor — but evaluating an athletic director hire from a layman's perspective is often quite useless without key contextual information as to how the search went down and how the candidate was settled upon.

Thus, I've mulled it over, slept on it and am now finally ready to provide some (hopefully rational) reactions that aren't of the knee-jerk variety. Here's three:

No, this isn't a bold hire. But remember the last one Wisconsin made?

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The vast majority of the reaction from Wisconsin fans and pundits alike is that this hire doesn't necessarily move the needle in either way; it's a boring, "check the boxes" kind of hire. Is that such a bad thing?

The last time Wisconsin made a big, swing-for-the-fences type hire for a critical position within its athletic department, former Athletic Director Chris McIntosh took a big swing on an out-of-the-box candidate in Luke Fickell, whom, despite being one of the hottest names on that coaching carosuel, had no connection to Wisconsin as well as some clearly misguided ideas about how to pilot the program.

The Fickell tenure has been a disaster in Madison. Is it doomed? Not quite; the Badgers have the Big Ten's easiest schedule and a significantly re-tooled roster in 2026. But essentially everyone sung Wisconsin's praises in the wake of the Fickell hire — the point is that the Badgers might actually need a status quo hire after how their last big swing has worked out thus far.

Forget his past — this is what Wisconsin needs from Eichorst:

Nebraska fans, especially, have decried this hire almost universally. Eichorst's last stint as a Big Ten AD in Lincoln didn't go great, and it's possible that Wisconsin, with Eichorst's ties to the state and past stints in the Badgers' front office, was his only shot at returning to the conference in an administrative capacity.

But Wisconsin fans can't worry about Eichorst's lackluster resume as athletic director at Nebraska (and Miami before that). The Badgers need one thing above all else, and they need it pretty badly: better fundraising.

I have no idea how Eichorst will fare in that department. He spent the last eight years at Texas, where he served as the Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer. That's an extremely well-funded athletics operation, but he did receive public praise from Texas' chief financial officer upon his hire at Wisconsin.

Ultimately, Wisconsin fans can't lose sleep over Eichorst's less-than-stellar previous AD stints. He has a chance to change the narrative in Madison, just as Fickell does this season on the football field. Can Fickell win this fall? Can Eichorst raise money? That's all that should matter.

Barry Alvarez' fingerprints still all over Madison

I understand Alvarez hasn't held office in Madison in several years. But as the single most influential person in the history of Wisconsin athletics, are we really surprised that his legacy still carries enormous weight?

Alvarez wasn't mentioned once in Wisconsin's series of press releases announcing the Eichorst hire. But considering he worked under Alvarez for five years from 2006-2011, holding the titles of Senior Associate Athletics Director, Executive Associate Athletics Director and Deputy Athletics Director, it's safe to say he has a friend in the legendary coach and AD.

I'm not insinuating that Alvarez' opinion was the driving factor here; he wasn't a part of Wisconsin's search committee. But if you don't think he had anything to do with it...I'd urge you to re-evaluate that opinion a little.

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