Shawn Eichorst reveals goals for a ‘successful’ first year

The Wisconsin Badgers introduced new Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst last week, as he stepped foot in front of the media for the first time on Tuesday.

Eichorst, a Wisconsin native, returns to the state at a crucial time for the athletic department, as Wisconsin is looking to grow in the NIL world and return to being one of the top football programs in the country.

Of course, there are a lot of questions around the future of head coach Luke Fickell, who needs to have better results in 2026, and a new Athletic Director will only add to that.

This first year of Eichorst’s tenure will be very telling, as Wisconsin looks to get more competitive in NIL, receives more clarity with the direction of the football program, and continues to be a force under Greg Gard in basketball.

What constitutes a successful first year in Eichorst’s eyes?

“For me, building deep relationships, really having a deeper understanding,” Eichorst said when asked. “It’s been 15 years since I’ve been on campus, so I don’t want to assume anything. I want to revisit everything and anything. And so for me, it’s having deep relationships not only within the athletics department, but more importantly across the aisle in academics. I’m a big collaborator. I really want to lean into the educational piece of what we’re doing and try to build some collaborations that are unique to us.

“And then of course, our stakeholders. I really want to get to know our stakeholders, our ticket holders, our donors, our student-athletes, our head coaches. So, a successful first year for me is to really understand who we are and where we are, and then we can start thinking about moving forward. Of course, we’re going to move quicker along the way, but if you ask me, that would be a successful first year to really get a solid footing on what’s going on at Wisconsin.”

Those relationships will be key, and it’s notable that Eichorst was on campus with Gard during his first stint at Wisconsin from 2006-11.

But it seems like Eichorst is looking to get the lay of the land before making some of those important decisions that could steer Wisconsin back on the right trajectory.