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Great question, Mike! Donna Shalala — the first female chancellor of the UW — was at the helm of UW–Madison from 1988 to 1993. In her five years of leadership at the UW, Shalala brought many changes to campus, including to the athletic department. In fact, Shalala was inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018 for her role in strengthening what was a rather weak athletic program in the late 1980s. She began by hiring a new athletic director, Pat Richter ’64, JD’71 (pictured above), in 1989. Richter, in turn, set about hiring several new head coaches throughout Shalala’s tenure as chancellor. Dennis Tiziani had already been the head coach for men’s golf since 1977, but in 1989, he took over the women’s golf program as well. In 1990, Barry Alvarez kicked off his legendary 32 years at the UW and set to work reviving the football program. Jerzy Radz spent one season as the head coach for the men’s fencing team at the UW between 1990 and 1991, when the fencing program was cut. Margie Fitzpatrick served as interim head coach of the volleyball team in 1991 before John Cook replaced her as the permanent head coach in 1992. Richter also hired Stu Jackson, head coach of men’s basketball, and Nick Hansen, the women’s swimming coach, in 1992. In January of 1993, Shalala resigned from the UW to join President Bill Clinton’s cabinet, and David Ward MS’62, PhD’63 took over as head coach of campus.

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