Bobbie Kelsey
After five seasons and 100 defeats, the Bobbie Kelsey era as women’s head basketball coach at Wisconsin has come to an end.
Kelsey compiled an overall record of 47-100 in her five seasons on the Badger bench, including a 19-65 mark in the Big Ten.
In a statement, Athletic Director Barry Alvarez said, “It ‘s my job and the sports administrator’s job to see the program’s progress and that they’re being run properly and that things are being done the right way.”
“Bobbie has a lot of good qualities. Her assistants have a lot of good qualities. They put a lot of hard work in.
“But in the end you must have some results, and we just didn’t have the results and the progress that we needed. We felt at that point we needed a change and shake things up and try to get the program back on track.”
The Badgers finished the current season 7-21 overall and 3-15 in the Big Ten, good for 13th place.
UW will conduct a national search for Kelsey’s replacement.
Alvarez said, “I want someone I feel confident will build a relationship with the high school coaches in this state and make that a top priority in recruiting.
Right now, Green Bay has the top Division 1 women’s program in the state under coach Kevin Borseth. Marquette has put together a solid recruiting class and is trying to play catch-up.
Milwaukee gained a lot of ground in the last year, moving up six spots in the suspect Horizon League to move right behind Green Bay. And then there’s Wisconsin. The Badgers have been out-recruited within the state lines and that is something they will have to change if they’re going to turn things around.