Camp Randall 100: John Jardine

General News

Camp Randall 100: John Jardine

Hard-nosed but soft-hearted coach worked to dig Badgers program out of deep hole

General News

Camp Randall 100: John Jardine

Hard-nosed but soft-hearted coach worked to dig Badgers program out of deep hole

Camp Randall 100 logo
The Camp Randall 100 is an exclusive list celebrating 100 people who have shaped Camp Randall Stadium's history across the realms of sports, music, culture and beyond. A new honoree will be revealed each day over the final 100 days leading up to kickoff of the Wisconsin football team's season opener with Utah State on Friday, Sept. 1. The Camp Randall 100 reveal is part of a year-long celebration of the history of the iconic stadium, which opened in 1917.
 

MADISON, Wis. — When Barry Alvarez took over a Wisconsin football program short on success in 1990, he turned to a man who had walked the same path two decades earlier.

"I used him as a sounding board to get my program started," Alvarez said of John Jardine, who took over as the Badgers' head coach in 1970 in the wake of one of the worst stretches in school history.

Jardine spent eight years at the helm of the UW program and is likely best remembered by fans for a season in which his Badgers finished 7-4 and knocked off No. 4-ranked Nebraska at Camp Randall Stadium. His players, however, remember Jardine for far more than his coaching record.

Read more in his Camp Randall 100 profile.


Camp Randall 100 profiles through July 20, 2017:
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