From red ink to roses

by Rick Telander

"On January 1, 1994, the University of Wisconsin football team scaled heights it had only dreamed of before, winning the school's first Rose Bowl ever. The 1993-94 men's basketball team was experiencing newfound success as well, qualifying for the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time in forty-seven years. These twin accomplishments brought Wisconsin into the forefront of big-time college sports and capped off a difficult and turbulent transformation that began only a few short years before." "In 1991, renowned sportswriter Rick Telander, author of Heaven Is a Playground, the classic study of urban teenagers and their beloved games, was given unprecedented access to the inner workings of the Wisconsin athletic department. The school's sports were in the throes of a major crisis, thanks to huge deficits that resulted from a combination of lousy football, declining attendance, and some ill-advised construction projects.^ University Chancellor Donna Shalala, a veteran of the New Y