It’s almost as if Alvarez planned the same career track as his coach and mentor.

“I did,” Alvarez said. “I really admired him as a coach and an athletic director. I knew the path he followed. He was a high school coach at Alpena (Michigan), he got his break at Michigan State. He went to Wyoming and took on a place that had never won in Nebraska. Then he settled in and became athletic director until he retired. Did it all at one school.

“That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to find a place that had been down and build it up, then stay as the athletic director and have the people say, ‘This is the guy who built this place.’

“When Pat Richter (the A.D. who hired Alvarez at Wisconsin) talked to me about the job, he said, ‘What’s your plan? What’s the next step?’ I said, ‘This is it. I want to come here and win big and then take over as athletic director one day and stay here my whole career.’ ”

Working under Fry and Holtz provided plenty of lessons, but Alvarez always made sure to stop by Memorial Stadium for advice.

“When I was at Notre Dame, my oldest daughter was going to Nebraska,” Alvarez said. “A couple of times I’d go there for father-daughter events at her sorority, and I’d stop by and see coach (Devaney).