3 reasons to like Wisconsin’s new AD hire

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The Wisconsin Badgers made headlines on Tuesday, as it was reported that Texas Longhorns Deputy Athletic Director and COO Shawn Eichorst would be the school’s next Athletic Director.

While my methods are admittedly deeply unscientific, I’d estimate that 75 percent of Wisconsin Badgers fans either actively dislike the Shawn Eichorst hire or are at least unimpressed, while 25 percent like or love it.

I’m firmly entrenched in the latter group, recognizing Eichorst’s flaws but feeling good overall about him and his potential for success in 2026 and beyond.

With this in mind, here are three reasons to like the Eichorst hire, along with one that’s a valid area of concern.

Eichorst Has Overseen a Massively Successful Texas Football Program, Including NIL  

One of the big knocks on Chris McIntosh was that he was unprepared for the tsunami of NIL until the late stages of his tenure as Wisconsin’s Athletic Director. There will be no such problem for Eichorst.

Armed with a law degree, he has spent the last eight years deeply entrenched in what has become an elite athletic department under Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, spanning everything from new facilities to coach and player recruitment and retention.

No, Eichorst wasn’t the top guy in Austin, but as Deputy AD/Chief Operating Officer for Longhorns Football, he’s been a trusted player in helping to modernize and maintain Texas’ massive and successful football program, even playing a key role in hiring Steve Sarkisian.

Texas routinely brings in elite talent in both recruiting and the Portal, and Eichorst has been right in the middle of that $2.2 billion operation. Yes, his Longhorn budgets far surpass what he’ll work with in Madison, but the skill set translates, and working closely with such a massive budget inevitably produced deeply valuable experience.

Eichorst Understands Wisconsin

I realize that many folks are using this same point as a negative against Eichorst, with even some suggesting the hire was orchestrated by Barry Alvarez (I don’t believe that it was), but as a piece of what he brings, I think it’s a value add.

Yes, the landscape is much different than it was when he was a Wisconsin Deputy AD between 2006-2011, but his familiarity with the culture at 1440 Monroe Street, especially having grown up in Wisconsin, matters a lot. 

For those who are convinced Wisconsin whiffed on hiring, for example, the Boise State or Arizona folks, Badger fans have recently witnessed the tough growing pains that can result from an ambitious outsider coming in with a reluctance to embrace this unique place (see Fickell, Luke), and I’m very confident Eichorst will not only embrace what is probably his dream job but thrive in Madison.

Eichorst Has Legit, Power Five AD Experience With Some Success

Although his time at Nebraska from 2012 to 2017 was (and remains) divisive, Eichorst has several years of boots-on-the-ground time as the top guy at two huge and sports-centric universities, including a short stint at Miami of Florida, where he hired the school’s all-time winningest basketball coach, Jim Larranaga. 

He also made the tough (but necessary, if winning more than 9 games was truly a program goal) call to fire the good but not great Bo Pelini in 2014 at Nebraska, and ran a generally successful program for most sports for several years. 

He also was an effective fundraiser in Lincoln, adding impressive new basketball facilities (amongst other capital improvement projects), while the Huskers’ football stadium remained the envy of the Big Ten, and fan attendance across numerous sports ranked highly. 

But now it’s time to examine a huge reason for pause.

Eichorst Hired Mike Riley

While there are other, more anecdotal shots being taken at Eichorst, including what some see as a detached and corporate demeanor, the true elephant in the Eichorst room is his hire of football coach Mike Riley, which cooked his reputation for many people, and seems to be the overwhelming crux of the argument against Wisconsin hiring him.

To orient everyone, in 2014, his second year on the job at Nebraska, he was tasked with finding Bo Pelini’s replacement. I’ve already gone over why firing Pelini was the bold stroke necessary if Nebraska hoped to return its football program to elite status (although many Nebraska fans today are misremembering how so many of them were calling for Pelini’s ouster at the time).

But Eichorst also needed to nail Pelini’s replacement. And while Mike Riley had an impressive tenure at Oregon State doing more with less, and was very well-regarded by other coaches and media members, he ultimately stumbled to a 19-19 record in Lincoln (for comparison’s sake, Fickell is 17-21), bringing down Eichorst with him.

Let’s be real here: football hires have oversized importance these days, and it’s fair that the buck stopped with Eichorst as far as the blame for one that didn’t work out. But should that move trump all of the other elements I cited above for why he could be a good fit for Wisconsin? 

I don’t think so, but I’ll be happy to revisit this in a year or so.

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