BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — The thank-you note from Barry Alvarez, the Wisconsin director of athletics, arrived in approximately 600 electronic mailboxes late Tuesday afternoon.
"Job Well Done!" read the tag line.
"I'd like to take a moment here to recognize the great work you all have done so far this year," the missive began. "And to say thank you."
Over the course of five paragraphs, Alvarez referenced a series of eye-catching achievements by UW coaches and student-athletes, all taking place since the school year began six months ago.
One dominates the current conversation and understandably so.
It's the 15-year-old streak in which the football team has played in a bowl game and the men's basketball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament.
It's the most extensive run of its kind in NCAA history, three better than the next longest (Texas from 1998-99 to 2009-10).
It's also 11 years older than the next longest active run among NCAA schools (Baylor and North Carolina from 2013-14 to the present).
Nestled into that equation is the fact that the men's basketball team is making its fourth straight appearance in the Sweet 16, an assignment that comes up Friday night when the Badgers face Florida at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
That equals the Big Ten Conference standard for most consecutive Sweet 16 berths.
No matter what happens from here on out, the fact that Wisconsin has appeared in 19 straight NCAA tournaments dating back to 1998-99 is extraordinary.
Put it this way: There are current UW students who've grown up seeing the Badgers in the national tournament and thinking it's a birthright.
They know little or nothing of the "Faithful 5,000" at the Field House, the eight consecutive non-winning seasons (1980-81 to '87-88) or the 22 straight campaigns without a winning record in Big Ten Conference games (1974-75 to '95-96).
"To make the tournament is huge," UW football coach Paul Chryst said, "but to do it 19 years straight, that's unheard of for anyone who was a fan of Badger basketball back then.
"To have success in the tournament is a whole other level."
Wisconsin is vying for its third Final Four appearance since 2013-14 and first national title since 1941.
That UW has two of its marquee sports in lock-step is remarkable. Three straight Sweet 16s has coincided with three consecutive bowl victories, including a 24-16 decision over Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl, a prestigious New Year's Six assignment.
"What both programs have kept in mind is they haven't worried about the string; they've just focused on the now and the current teams to try and get those teams to wherever they're potential was," men's basketball coach Greg Gard said.
"I think you see a lot of similarities and it's really department wide. It starts at the top with Barry and goes from there — the culture and the way we go about things."
Gard said Alvarez, the Hall of Fame football coach of the Badgers from 1990 to 2005, concocted a recipe for success and his coaches are wise to follow it.
What is it?
"Understanding who we are, what's the best style for us to play, the best type of kids to go out and recruit for us to be successful," Alvarez said.
Wisconsin, he said, has a finite number of Division I football and men's basketball players.
"The first thing you have to do is get the best ones in your state and then find (other recruits) that fit the mold," Alvarez said. "A person that understands work ethic and has a blue-collar type attitude.
"We never get too far ahead of ourselves and thinking that we're going to get one-and-dones in basketball or sign just five-star guys from all over the country in football."
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about the two extended streaks is that they've been sustained through multiple coaching changes.
Chryst, a UW graduate hired as head coach in 2014, is the fourth since the football streak began in 2002.
Gard, a UW-Platteville grad hired as head coach in 2016, is the third since the men's basketball run began in 1999.
"Paul does it in a way that is unique to Wisconsin and is successful at Wisconsin," Gard said. "It fits here.
"We very much try to follow a similar blueprint in terms of how we do things."
First-year men's hockey coach Tony Granato has a more international recruiting model, but he said the shared level of community and department support, coupled with first-class facilities, "gives you that opportunity to put together a program that can win consistently.
"They're all kind of interconnected. There's fan support. You have to have the facilities. The facilities are here because of the tradition and history."
The venues — from Camp Randall Stadium to the Kohl Center; from LaBahn Arena to University Ridge; from the Field House to the McClimon Track and Soccer Complex; from Goodman Diamond to the Zimmer Cross Country Course — are well-kept by good people.
"The culture we have built here has been critical to our success," Alvarez said. "Our employees take great pride in their work and it shows.
"I hear comments all the time from visiting teams, officials and fans … that our facilities look good, that they were treated well by our people. I hear it from our student-athletes, too.
"Building a culture doesn't happen overnight, but once it is established, like we have here now, it really is something concrete you can stand on and be proud of."
The recently released UW Athletics master plan includes proposed upgrades for Camp Randall, the Kohl Center and the Field House among others.
The school has a strong reputation handling NCAA tournament events, which helps explain why UW plans to bid on the women's Frozen Four and the national cross country championships in 2018-19.
Fan interest in the Badgers is strong and diverse.
Football and men's basketball routinely play before sellout crowds, but so do women's hockey and volleyball.
Alvarez noted the consistent level of achievement from sport to sport.
Football closed out its season ranked ninth in the nation, while men's basketball was 25th in the latest poll before the NCAA tournament.
Women's hockey and volleyball closed out their seasons second and fifth in the national rankings, respectively.
Men's cross country finished eighth and the women's squad placed 14th at the NCAA meet.
Wrestling wound up 13th at the NCAA meet, while men's hockey returned to the national rankings, currently No. 17, after two abysmal seasons.
Heading into the spring, women's rowing is ranked 11th and softball, off to one of its best starts in history, is No. 22.
"Everyone plays a role in that kind of consistently high level of performance and you can take pride in that," Alvarez wrote in his thank-you note.
"But I know it's not just football and men's basketball. So many of our sports have enjoyed terrific years and I'm grateful for the efforts each one of you contributes to that success. It doesn't just happen on its own."
Granato, who spent 26 seasons as a player and coach in the NHL, said it's clear that UW Athletics has a rhythm tied directly to Alvarez.
"His is the big voice that everybody can fall behind and follow and try to represent what he brought to the program in their departments.
"It's not just about winning. It's about doing things right and being the best you can be from what you have."
In one season, Granato led the Badgers to 20 wins and a second-place finish in the Big Ten. They won 12 of 70 games combined and twice finished last the previous two seasons.
"What he's done for me is he's given me the confidence and the support you need from somebody like your boss," he said of Alvarez.
Granato, who's in the midst of finishing his work toward a degree, has a pretty firm grasp of the UW culture.
"You can't just be an athlete," he said. "You have to be a student-athlete with the requirements and challenges academically.
"Our school's pretty tough, so that's a challenge in itself. You're recruiting an athlete that understands those challenges."
UW softball coach Yvette Healy said an energetic atmosphere can be felt around 1440 Monroe St.
"The culture is good because you have a lot of people that expect to win every game that they're in," she said.
As for the two-pronged streak, she marveled.
"It's harder than it looks," she said. "To be really good every single year you've got to believe."
Gard can attest to that.
"Winning is hard and winning consistently at this level is hard," he said.
Gard was a long-time assistant to Ryan before taking over in mid-December last season when Ryan stepped down. Alvarez subsequently gave Gard the full-time reins last March.
Gard said the 15-year streak is "an amazing, amazing accomplishment to have that string in both programs.
"That's a credit to how the department is managed and the coaches (Alvarez) has in place in different areas."
Alvarez looks around the country and sees schools with deep pockets and strong traditions who have stumbled of late.
"It doesn't take much to disrupt things and knock you off track and set you back," he said. "Consistency is very important. Consistency of play and belief in all these things is important."
Not only does Alvarez implore his coaches to use one another as resources, the door to his Kellner Hall office door is always open.
"Everyone needs sounding boards," he said. "You always have problems, issues to deal with, and you have someone right down the hall. You have some of the great coaches in college athletics right here amongst us. All you have to do is ask.
"We have coaches that will support one another. I like the fact they know one another and feel comfortable going in and asking questions."
It's not just the coaches who have a stake in this culture, though.
"There's a sense of ownership that's more than meets the eye," Chryst said. "There's no doubt that it takes more than the team and the coaches."
Like the streak, Alvarez just wants to be consistent.
"We just have to keep on doing our thing," he said, "keep trying to improve and keep making this happen."
