Entering late June, the Wisconsin Badgers should be narrowing things down to their top athletic director candidates.
Currently, the race is wide open. Of course, there’s a case to be made that UW should keep Marcus Sedberry and simply promote him from his interim role, but that’s not always the smartest move to make.
There is a ton of upside for an athletic director to want to come to Madison, but the two candidates listed below are more than happy with where they’re at.
One of whom is a Wisconsin native, while the other was a finalist for this exact role back in 2021. Now, neither seems to be headed to UW, and for good reason.
Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz
It seems silly to even bring Goetz up with how much success the Hawkeyes have had in football and both men’s and women’s basketball, but Wisconsin’s athletic director role is one Goetz nearly held.
Now, she’s settled into Iowa and is looking to help lead the Hawkeyes to the promised land. At no point has she seemed like a true candidate for Wisconsin, so the university is better off looking elsewhere instead of wasting its time on someone who would be making a lateral, or even a negative move.
UWGB Athletic Director Josh Moon
On Wednesday, June 17, UWGB announced they’d be extending Moon through 2031. The Wisconsin native made a bold move by deciding to hire Doug Gottlieb as the university’s men’s basketball coach, and while year one was a disaster, the team drastically turned things around in year two.
There’s a case to be made that the Phoenix have a better women’s basketball program than the Badgers, but the glaring issue with Moon is UWGB’s lack of a football team. Coming to Madison may have been too large a leap for him in the first place, but now he’s especially comfortable staying in Green Bay with his new contract.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Two athletic director candidates Wisconsin must move on from
Reporting by Jordon Lawrenz, Badgers Wire / Badgers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jordon Lawrenz, Badgers Wire | USA TODAY Network
