Wisconsin football hires Bradie Ewing as director of alumni relations
Wisconsin brings back Bradie Ewing as director of alumni relations, aiming to reconnect the football program with its tradition and former players.
Some hires move the needle on Saturdays, while others quietly shape everything around them. This one falls into the second category, but don’t mistake that for it being insignificant.
Wisconsin football is bringing back one of its own.
The program announced that former Badgers fullback and team captain Bradie Ewing is returning to Madison as the Director of Football Alumni Relations. It’s a new role centered on reconnecting the present-day program with the players and traditions that helped build it.
And if you’ve followed where this program has been, and where it’s trying to go, that job carries more weight than the title might suggest.
“Bradie is a perfect fit for our alumni relations role,” Luke Fickell said. “He understands what makes the University of Wisconsin and Badger football special. He will do an excellent job fostering relationships with our alumni and maintaining the traditions and values that define our program.”
Ewing’s path back to Wisconsin is about as on-brand as it gets.
The 2012 graduate started his career at the University of Wisconsin as a walk-on from Richland Center, earned a scholarship, became a starter, and eventually, a team captain. Ewing was part of back-to-back Big Ten championship teams in 2010 and 2011, appearing in 52 career games while totaling 328 rushing yards and two touchdowns from the fullback position.
That stat line doesn’t tell the full story, of course.
Ewing’s value came in doing the dirty work, leading through contact, setting the tone at the line of scrimmage, and helping power a pair of offenses in 2010—11, that featured Russell Wilson, Scott Tolzien, Montee Ball, James White, John Clay, Nick Toon, Lance Kendricks, and Gabe Carimi during one of the most productive stretches in program history.
He went on to be selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons and spent three seasons in the league before a brief stint on Wisconsin’s strength staff in 2015.
Now, he’s back in a role that feels tailored to the moment.
“I’m honored to return to Wisconsin,” Ewing said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to connect with former players and alumni that helped lay the foundation of Badger football. The culture here is rooted in the pride of being a Badger, and I’m excited to strengthen those ties and keep our alumni connected to the program moving forward.”
It’s hard not to view this through the broader lens of where Wisconsin football stands right now.
Fickell is entering Year 4, still trying to stabilize a program that’s lost its footing over the past three seasons, sitting at 17–21 overall and 10–17 in Big Ten play. The Badgers have also missed back-to-back bowl games and have come up empty in rivalry matchups as of late.
And fair or not, much of the criticism tied to that stretch has centered around identity, what Wisconsin football is supposed to look like, and whether the program drifted too far from it.
For decades, that identity was clear. Physical. Run-first. Built at the line of scrimmage. Developed, not assembled. The shift away from that, both schematically and culturally, hasn’t sat well with a large portion of the fan base or former players who helped maintain the Badgers’ high standards.
Ewing represents a direct connection back to that era.
Not as a symbolic gesture, but as someone who understands the standard because he helped uphold it.
This hire doesn’t fix everything. It doesn’t change a depth chart or rewrite last season’s record. But it does signal something — an acknowledgment, at least, that reconnecting with the program’s roots still matters.
And right now, that might be exactly where the rebuild has to start, if it’s not already too late.
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