Report Card: Grading Chris McIntosh's tenure as Wisconsin athletic director
Chris McIntosh left Wisconsin after a five-year run as athletic director. Here's a report card on the decisions that shaped his legacy.
When Chris McIntosh accepted Wisconsin’s athletic director job in 2021, he inherited one of the most stable departments in college athletics.
Five years later, McIntosh departed for the Big Ten office to take a newly created position as Deputy Commissioner for Strategy, leaving Wisconsin with more uncertainty surrounding its football program than at any point in recent memory. Shawn Eichorst has since been hired to take over the athletic department and determine what comes next.
Nevertheless, reducing McIntosh’s tenure to the state of the Wisconsin football program would leave out too much of the picture.
None of that is to suggest McIntosh should be immune from criticism. He has earned plenty of it. But it’s also fair to acknowledge the hand he was dealt. Few athletic directors have had to navigate a more turbulent period in college athletics, with NIL, the transfer portal, conference realignment, revenue sharing and an unprecedented arms race all happening at once.
But athletic directors aren’t remembered for surviving difficult times. They’re remembered for the biggest decisions they make.
Here’s how I’d grade the areas that defined McIntosh’s tenure.
