Wisconsin selects its new athletic director as Shawn Eichorst returns to the Big Ten

Shawn Eichorst is returning to his home state and getting another chance to run a Big Ten athletic department.

Wisconsin's new athletic director says he’s learned quite a bit since the last time he was in a similar position.

Wisconsin announced the hire of Eichorst on Wednesday, 2 1/2 months after Chris McIntosh stepped down to take over a newly created position in the Big Ten office as the conference’s deputy commissioner for strategy.

Eichorst had been Nebraska's athletic director before getting fired in the fall of 2017. Eichorst has been working at Texas since 2018, most recently as deputy athletic director and chief operating officer.

“I've learned a ton about resiliency, being open-minded and curious,” Eichorst said Wednesday during a Zoom session with reporters. "All those things are what universities are all about. That's why I'm so excited to come back to Wisconsin."

Eichorst also was an athletic director from 2011-12 at Miami and from 1999-2003 at Wisconsin-Whitewater, his alma mater. He took over at Nebraska in 2013 after the retirement of Tom Osborne and began a tenure most notable for his 2014 firing of football coach Bo Pelini and subsequent hiring of Mike Riley.

Riley, who had gone 93-80 in 14 years at Oregon State, was 19-19 in three seasons at Nebraska and got fired after the Cornhuskers finished 4-8 in 2017. Eichorst was fired shortly after Nebraska's football team fell to Northern Illinois early in the 2017 season.

“What I take away (from the Nebraska experience) is growth,” Eichorst said. “We all learn, especially in times of adversity, resilience, all those things we talk to our young people about. I'm looking in the mirror. I look at it as a positive experience, and moving forward, I'm going to use every ounce of my soul to learn and to listen and to continue to strive to get better.”

Wisconsin interim chancellor Eric Wilcots said he and the search committee did their “due diligence” regarding Eichorst's Nebraska tenure before hiring him. Wilcots noted Eichorst's more recent experience at Texas, which just won the Learfield Directors' Cup all-sports standings for the fifth time in six years.

“What gives me the confidence is I look at what's happened in Austin, and talking to folks there, understanding Shawn's role in that growth and excellence,” Wilcots said.

Marcus Sedberry, who had been Wisconsin’s deputy athletic director/chief operating officer, has been serving as interim AD since McIntosh’s departure while the search committee sought a permanent successor.

This represents a homecoming for Eichorst.

He worked for the Badgers’ athletic department from 2006-11 when Barry Alvarez was AD. Eichorst’s titles included senior associate athletic director, executive associate athletic director and deputy athletic director.

He was born in Lone Rock, Wisconsin, about 45 miles northwest of Wisconsin's Madison campus. Eichorst played football at Wisconsin-Whitewater, graduating in 1990. He earned a law degree from Marquette.

“I know the state,” Eichorst said. “I know there’s 72 counties. I know where Chetek is and Oconomowoc is and Ashland is and all those other sorts of places. For me, there’s a little bit of comfort with that.”

Eichorst heads to Wisconsin during a period of transition, with Jennifer Mnookin leaving her post as chancellor to become Columbia’s president.

His arrival also comes at a time when Wisconsin’s football program — a model of consistency for most of the last quarter-century — has taken a step backward.

McIntosh fired Paul Chryst midway through the 2022 season and hired Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati later that year. Fickell went 53-10 his last five seasons at Cincinnati and led the Bearcats to a 2021 College Football Playoff appearance, but he has gone 17-21 at Wisconsin.

Wisconsin went 4-8 last year after going 5-7 in 2024, snapping a string of 22 straight winning seasons. McIntosh announced late last season he was bringing back Fickell while promising a greater financial investment in the football program. During the offseason, Wisconsin added 34 transfers, including 27 from other Bowl Subdivision schools.

During his Wednesday Zoom session with reporters, Eichorst said he had spoken with Fickell a couple of hours beforehand while the coach was vacationing.

“I’m fired up to get a chance to get with him face to face and really understand more about what’s going on and, more importantly, how can I be helpful,” Eichorst said. “That’s my job. My job is to put the right people in the right seats, give them the resources, get out of the way and let them do their jobs.”