ROSEMONT, ILL. -- Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez said Wednesday that he's open to letting Paul Bunyan's Axe return to the sidelines this fall for the annual celebration after the Minnesota/Wisconsin game.
Alvarez open to letting Paul Bunyan's Axe return to sidelines
Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez said the decision to limit the Paul Bunyan's Axe celebration to the end zone was made by former Badgers coach Gary Andersen.
May 20, 2015 at 7:15PM
The Badgers put the traveling trophy in the end zone for last year's celebration. The goal was to avoid another confrontation like the teams had during Wisconsin's 2013 celebration in Minnesota.
"Gary made that decision," Alvarez said, referring to former Badgers coach Gary Andersen. "I've always felt part of the tradition was to run across the field."
Anderson has since left to become Oregon State's coach, and Alvarez replaced him with his former assistant, Paul Chryst.
Marc Morehouse from the Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote a fun story here from the Big Ten meetings, asking whether trophy runs were an endangered species. He spoke to Gophers AD Norwood Teague, who said trophy runs don't bother him.
So the storming of the opposing sideline tradition could return when Jerry Kill's Gophers meet Chryst's Badgers on Nov. 28 at TCF Bank Stadium.
"I think Paul is a traditionalist," Alvarez said. "I think he and Jerry should discuss that, and Norwood and myself. The four of us should sit down and talk about it and decide how we want to do it.
"I will say one thing, the last couple years, I don't think it's been explained well enough to all the kids. So it's been very close to having an altercation, and I think we have to be proactive so we don't [have one]. The winning team celebrates, the other team lets them do their thing and exits the field."
The Gophers men’s hockey team can trace Sam Rinzel’s improvement this past offseason down to the second, and he’ll be a focal point in this weekend’s series against No. 3 Michigan State.
