A former Nebraska athletic director is returning to the Big Ten. Shawn Eichorst has been appointed Director of Athletics for the University of Wisconsin.
Eichorst served as Nebraska’s athletics director from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure, Nebraska teams won three NCAA Team National Championships and 14 Big Ten Conference titles.
He is best remembered for the decision to fire head football coach Bo Pelini after seven consecutive seasons of nine or more wins. At the time of the decision, Eichorst believed the team’s performance in big games had consistently fallen short.
“We weren’t good enough in the games that mattered. I didn’t see that changing at the end of the day… this isn’t a day of celebration for me. We’ve got a lot of good, young people in our program who are hurting.”
While Pelini had an overall record of 67-27, he was 8-17 vs. AP-ranked teams and was 0-3 in conference championship games. Eichorst would replace Pelini with then-Oregon State coach Mike Riley.
Riley would only last three years in Lincoln and was dismissed after a 4-8 season in 2017. Eichorst was fired from Nebraska in late September of 2017.
Since 2018, he has served as the Deputy AD for Texas. Eichorst now joins his second Big Ten school as Athletic Director and is hoping for better results.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Former Nebraska Athletic Director hired at another Big Ten schools
