Chris McIntosh began his tenure as Director of Athletics at Wisconsin on July 1, 2021.
A former college student-athlete, professional football player and businessman, McIntosh brings a unique blend of experiences to his role. Student-athlete opportunity is at the forefront of McIntosh’s leadership approach and he knows first-hand that lives can be elevated through the opportunities provided through college athletics.
McIntosh’s tenure in charge of Badger Athletics has been marked by a robust internal and external agenda. His hire of football coach Luke Fickell in the fall of 2022 has energized all of Badger Nation. McIntosh also brought new leadership to the Wisconsin men’s hockey program with the hiring of Mike Hastings in the spring of 2023.
Under McIntosh’s direction, UW Athletics has developed a substantive strategic plan with areas of emphasis that include student-athlete opportunity, data and technology, workforce planning, staff engagement and external engagement. McIntosh has also overseen Wisconsin’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) programming with an aim toward providing student-athletes with the resources they need in the evolving personal branding space. In addition, McIntosh will oversee the largest capital project in Wisconsin Athletics history with a new $285 million indoor football practice facility in the planning stages.
McIntosh previously served as Wisconsin’s deputy athletic director from 2017-21 under former director of athletics Barry Alvarez. In his role as deputy athletic director, McIntosh was charged with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department while also serving as the sport administrator for football.
McIntosh served as Government Affairs liaison, collaborating with legislators on wide-ranging issues, including NIL, capital projects, UW borrowing and treasury flexibilities, and future legislation. He spearheaded the effort to identify financial threats posed by the disruption of the 2020 football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, develop a contingency plan to preserve the broad-based offering of 23 sport programs and save more than $30 million in fiscal year 2021.
McIntosh helped establish and expand the Inclusion & Engagement unit as one of the first departments across the nation to intentionally focus on diversity, inclusion, and engagement within college athletics. He initiated the development of Wisconsin Athletics’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan, which was released on Sept. 4, 2020, and aims to create an environment that embraces diversity and encourages people from all backgrounds to come together in order to develop, grow and win together. Among the action steps UW Athletics has taken to further this goal include the creation of an Equity & Diversity Council to serve as an advisory board to assist with the collaboration of D&I efforts within department and support of the Raimey Noland Campaign, which establishes a diverse fund dedicated to recruitment and retention of diverse talent and enhancing their experiences.
In addition, McIntosh helped establish the Department of Clinical & Sport Psychology, which is committed to promoting student-athlete growth through performance enhancement, psycho-educational outreach, counseling, and consultation.
McIntosh, a consensus All-America offensive tackle who captained Wisconsin’s back-to-back Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions in 1998 and 1999, returned to UW in 2014 after a successful business career. He was hired in December of 2014 as Wisconsin’s associate athletic director for business development and was responsible for identifying, developing and enhancing new and existing sources of revenue for UW Athletics. He cultivated corporate sponsorships, negotiated and secured new apparel, licensing and merchandising partnerships and helped to enhance Wisconsin’s current sponsorship program.
During his time at Wisconsin, student-athletes have excelled both athletically and academically. The overall Graduation Success Rate for UW student-athletes is 91 percent, including record highs in each of the last eight years. In each of the past three years, 100 percent of UW’s trackable graduating student-athletes have achieved positive post-graduate career outcomes.
McIntosh has overseen immediate athletic success by many of Wisconsin’s teams, including the 2021 volleyball national champions, the 2022 men’s basketball Big Ten champions and the 2023 women’s hockey NCAA champions.
He was a part of outstanding athletic success in his six-plus years as an administrator. The football team made three appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games, the men’s basketball team won the 2020 Big Ten title, the women’s hockey team has won two national championships, the volleyball team has won two Big Ten titles and finished as the national runner-up in 2019 and the men’s hockey team won the 2021 Big Ten crown.
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