Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez will announce Thursday if he'll return to the sidelines to coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The paper spoke to Alvarez in New York, where he was being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He said he would hold a press conference on Thursday to reveal whether or not he would coach, which he said he hasn't ruled out.

Alvarez guided Wisconsin to wins in the 1994, 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowls. He retired at the end of the 2005 season.

The odds seem pretty good that Alvarez will return to coach for this one game while Wisconsin seeks out a permanent replacement for Bret Bielema. If not, he may announce an interim coach tomorrow. But seeing Alvarez back on the sidelines would no doubt fire up Badgers fans and add an intriguing wrinkle to the matchup against Stanford. The question would be whether Alvarez would be anything more than a figurehead or if he would be intimately involved in game-planning.

We should find out tomorrow.