New Univ. of Wisconsin AD Shawn Eichorst “presented a collaborative vision for the future” of the university’s athletic department when interviewing for the position, with the message of “everything toward the pursuit of excellence,” according to Todd Milewski of the WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL. UW interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots “absorbed that pitch and saw an unusual aspect to it but mostly an alignment with how the university as a whole operates.” Excellent or excellence “came up 16 times from Eichorst or Wilcots in just over 30 minutes” of an introductory meeting with the media Wednesday after Wisconsin named Eichorst its AD. Eichorst’s most recent experience at Texas, which ended with him as deputy AD with oversight of football, helped shape him “for what’s to come.” Eichorst said that Texas “expects to lead in everything, and he’ll carry that demand back to Madison.” Eichorst’s outlook for a Wisconsin athletic department with him at the helm “had sports deeply entwined in the school’s academic mission.” Eichorst said that “he sees himself as a partner with Wilcots,” who will be his immediate boss, and other campus leaders whose primary concern is education. Wilcots found it “unusual in today’s college athletics landscape that Eichorst seemed to deeply care about connections between athletics and academics” (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 7/2).
MOVING FORWARD: In Wisconsin, Jim Polzin wrote the “big blemish on what otherwise is a resume filled with a lot of experiences” was Eichorst’s time at Nebraska, which ended with him getting fired in 2017. Firing former Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini and hiring the now former coach Mike Riley were the moves that “ultimately caused Eichorst to lose his job, but it didn’t help matters that Eichorst shut out the media early in his tenure in Lincoln and made some mistakes when he finally did address hot topics.” It “overshadowed” some of the good things he did during his tenure at Nebraska. On Wednesday, he “nailed” his answer about what he learned from his Nebraska experience. Eichorst: “What I take away is growth. We all learn, especially times of adversity, resilience, all those things we talk to our young people about. I’m looking in the mirror, and so I look at it as a positive experience” (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 6/2).
SO FAR, SO GOOD: In Milwaukee, John Steppe wrote as Eichorst begins his tenure, “he has liked what he’s heard” about the Badgers’ financial situation. Eichorst said, “I’m comfortable with where things are financially. I’m comfortable with respect to where the landscape is. It’s a challenging landscape. You got to be comfortable when it’s uncomfortable.” Of course, Eichorst “expressed his desire to improve the athletic department’s finances.” Eichorst: “The key with the financial piece is the investments you make. Everybody’s trying to grow their revenue and all that other sort of stuff. But from my perspective, the key is prioritizing the things that make you great and then making those investments” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/1).
