Wisconsin reportedly targeting Shawn Eichorst as next athletic director

MADISON – The Wisconsin Badgers appear to be taking a familiar route with their athletic director hire.

Wisconsin is targeting former Nebraska and Miami athletic director Shawn Eichorst for its AD vacancy, according to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

It would be a homecoming for Eichorst, a Lone Rock native and UW-Whitewater alum. He was a deputy AD under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin before his tenures as athletic director at Miami from 2011-12 and Nebraska from 2012-17. He joined Texas’ athletic department in 2018 and has been the deputy AD and chief operating officer there.

It is unclear at this point who the other finalists were. WildcatAuthority, the Arizona site for 247 Sports, reported that Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois was a finalist for the Wisconsin job, but Reed-Francois denied having interest in a statement to the Arizona Daily Star.

Marcus Sedberry, previously one of UW’s deputy ADs and the football general manager, had been serving as interim AD. He did not indicate in an April media availability whether he planned to seek the permanent position.

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Lauren Bishop – a social work professor and one of UW’s faculty athletics representatives – chaired the hiring committee that included Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard, New Jersey Devils executive Meghan Duggan, Dallas Mavericks executive Michael Finley and other UW alumni.

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Eichorst would take over an athletic department with some possible challenges looming. Most notably, the Luke Fickell-led football program is coming off back-to-back losing seasons and needing to stem growing fan apathy.

UW tabbed CSA Search and Consulting to help with the search. A public records request submitted by the Journal Sentinel in May for UW’s contract with the search firm remains pending.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin reportedly targeting Shawn Eichorst as next athletic director