The prominent former college football head coach, athletic director of Wisconsin, and two-time Big Ten coach of the Year, Barry Alvarez’ death rumor was erroneously started and the report got more floated when a former Ohio State and NFL player, Matt Finkes, shared the news in one of his tweets.
Finkes, who now is a director of development at OSU’s medical center, shared in the now-deleted post via Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing, “Football lost a legend today. Barry was a pillar of the sport & a great guy. Never forget him coaching me in the East-West Shrine game & coming back to the hotel & seeing him & my dad at the bar having scotch & telling stories till the wee hours. RIP Barry @BadgerFootball”
Due to Finkes large number of followers on Platform X, formerly Twitter, Alvarez’ death news attracted attention. Colten Bartholomew and Jim Polzin of The Wisconsin State Journal confirmed this from Chris McIntosh, the AD of Wisconsin and from other administrators that the former head coach is alive and well.
Despite a rumor this morning on Twitter, former #Badgers coach and AD Barry Alvarez is alive. Chris McIntosh told me he just got off the phone with Alvarez.
— Jim Polzin (@JimPolzinWSJ) March 6, 2024
Multiple Wisconsin administrators confirm former #Badgers AD and football coach Barry Alvarez is still with us, despite a rumor on Twitter this morning. Current UW AD Chris McIntosh spoke with Alvarez this morning.
— Colten Bartholomew (@CBartWSJ) March 6, 2024
Apologize for the earlier tweet about @BadgerFootball Barry Alvarez. There was a post this morning from a reliable source. I did not research further. Happy Barry is still rocking!!
— Matt Finkes (@MattFinkes) March 6, 2024
Finkes later also shared his apologies and mentioned in his post that he found out from a “reliable source” about the passing of Alvarez. He also further stated that he is “happy” that the former decorated head coach is well.
Alvarez was the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers football team for sixteen seasons. He went on to win three Rose Bowls and in 1993, he won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award and the AFCA Coach of the Year Award as well.
