Texas Deputy AD Shawn Eichorst is set to become the new AD at Wisconsin, where he beat out Stars President & CEO Brad Alberts and Louisville AD Josh Heird, according to sources cited by Jim Polzin of the WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL. Eichorst has “plenty of experience at big-time schools,” including serving as AD at Miami and Nebraska. Alberts would have been an “outside-the-box hire” at a time when college athletics are “looking more and more like professional sports.” He would have been a “bold hire but also a risky one: Considering the ever-changing landscape, it doesn’t seem prudent to have a CEO who would need training wheels to navigate the types of things Alberts doesn’t have to worry about in the NHL.” Meanwhile, Heird has done “some good things” at Louisville, but he does not “match Eichorst in experience.” He also would have to “navigate his early days at Wisconsin as an outsider;” Eichorst worked for UW before leaving for Miami. Even if he is not a “move-the-needle choice -- not a sexy pick but a safe one” -- Eichorst checks “more boxes than anyone that came to mind” other than Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard, who had “no interest in the job because he is happy” in Ames (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 7/1).
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: In Omaha, Sam McKewon writes Eichorst’s hiring strikes as “Door No. 3, an inexpensive pick at the end of a search, perhaps the result” of former AD Barry Alvarez’s urging. McKewon notes Eichorst liked to stay out of the spotlight at Nebraska, and if he has “increased his media awareness and commits to accessibility,” he possesses “qualities that could make it work well at Wisconsin” (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 7/1).
