From Red Ink to Roses: The Turbulent Transformation of a Big Ten Program - Hardcover

Telander, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067174853X ISBN 13: 9780671748531

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1994

Synopsis

A chronicle of idealism vs. practical reality in college athletics reveals the high-risk, high-pressure decisions that led to the athletic turnaround at the University of Wisconsin--and the effects on the lives of the students involved. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

How the University of Wisconsin athletic department went from a debt-ridden mess in 1990 to one of the healthiest programs in the country, capped by its once hapless football team's stunning 1994 Rose Bowl victory. Telander (The Hundred Yard Lie, 1989) spent 1991 doing a closeup study of what was then a sickly sports program at the fourth largest university in the country. Wisconsin, highly rated academically and with the nation's largest budget--$1 billion--was operating its athletic department at almost $2 million in the red. Its football team was less than mediocre, and the basketball team hadn't been to an NCAA tournament in half a century. The only bright spot was the highly successful hockey team, which was able to pay for itself. Things began to change, writes Telander, when Donna Shalala (now US Secretary of Health and Human Services) was named chancellor in 1988. She inherited an athletic department in such disarray that the state had ordered an audit. She cleaned house and named Wisconsin sports legend Pat Richter as athletic director. His first move was to hire Barry Alvarez as head football coach. In three years he took the team to its first winning season in a decade, culminating in the Rose Bowl victory. Telander examines the effect of such sudden growth on the student-athletes, the school, and the community. While he gives Shalala ample credit for her determination to win while maintaining high academic standards, he's a bit dubious about the role played by ``budget analyst'' (some would say hatchet man) Al Fish, whose supervision of the department's reformation has included megafundraising efforts via rock concerts and the school's endorsement of a sports drink. Telander's oddly muted admiration combined with jaundiced cynicism spike any punch the book might have had, but despite the confused viewpoint, his analysis of the program's transformation is sound and sturdy. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The athletic program at the University of Wisconsin served for years as a doormat in the Big Ten Conference, especially in football and men's basketball. Hoping to construct an overview of an entire athletic department, Telander, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, spent 14 months observing Wisconsin's sports program in detail. The time frame (December 1990 through January 1992) was fortuitous since the university was undergoing great change. It had a new chancellor, Donna Shalala (now U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services), one of whose goals was to set the athletic department on the right course. She brought in a new athletic director who then brought in new coaches for men's basketball and football. Other changes were made as well, and two short years later, the Wisconsin Badgers were the 1994 Rose Bowl champions. Telander profiles athletes, coaches, administrators, and the local press corps with equal empathy, stressing always that institutions are defined by the people in them. This superbly informative and entertaining study shows us that college athletics can work--for the players, the schools, and the fans. Wes Lukowsky

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 067174853X
• ISBN 13: 9780671748531
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320