Alvarez to make it official this morning he's returning to the sidelines for the Rose Bowl

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez is expected to announce this morning that he’ll coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl Game against Stanford on New Year’s Day.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said the team’s six captains – including running back Montee Ball – asked Alvarez to return to the sidelines for the game. The school’s athletic director was reportedly moved by the request and said yes. He’s expected to make it official during a 10 a.m. news conference at UW-Madison. Alvarez coached the Badgers for 16 years through 2005 – and his teams won the Rose Bowl three times in 1994, ’99, and 2000. Ball said the Badger players remain focused in the wake of coach Bret Bielema’s sudden and surprising departure for Arkansas. Ball said Bielema told the players on Tuesday night that he was leaving in part so he could win a national championship. At his first news conference in Fayetteville yesterday, Bielema said his goals were to win both an SEC title and the national crown. He also told reporters yesterday he would not coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl – and he would love to see Alvarez do it. Bielema went 0-2 at Pasadena.

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The search is well underway for Wisconsin’s next head football coach. Media reports say athletic director Barry Alvarez has already spoken to Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart about the opening. And he also expects to talk with ex-Badger Mel Tucker, who’s now the defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. University of Miami-Florida head coach Al Golden is also said to be a candidate, along with Chris Petersen of Boise State. But the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst remains the top candidate. It would cost the UW six-million-dollars to buy out the contract Chryst signed a year ago, when he left his former post as the Badgers’ offensive coordinator. The paper says the buyout would not stop Alvarez from pursuing Chryst.

Tags: wisconsin sports, badgers, football, proam