Former Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was arrested by Madison police for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and will step down from his role on Wisconsin’s coaching staff, coach Luke Fickell announced Monday.
Del Rio, the only head coach over the past two decades to lead the Raiders to the playoffs, had joined Wisconsin’s staff in August as a senior adviser to Fickell.
Madison police said Del Rio was arrested early Friday for a first-offense OWI after a vehicle hit a stop sign and broke a fence before resting in a yard. Police said Del Rio was walking away from the area and showed signs of impairment when they arrived at 12:35 a.m.
“He’s going to move forward and he’s going to resign and move on,” Fickell said. “It’s a tough situation. Decisions that all of us have to be able to take full responsibility for. So that’s what Jack will do, and we’ll continue to move forward.”
The 61-year-old Del Rio came to Wisconsin after spending the last four years as the Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator. He was fired 12 games into the 2023 season.
Del Rio had a 93-94 record in a 12-year NFL head coaching career that included stints with the Jaguars (2003-11) and Raiders (2015-17).
The former Hayward High three-sport star played linebacker in the NFL from 1985-95 after a stellar college career at Southern California.
Wisconsin (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) has lost its last two games heading into Saturday’s home matchup with No. 1 Oregon (10-0, 7-0, No. 1 CFP).
Women’s basketball
Stanford cracks Top 25 >> Stanford cracked The Associated Press’ first regular season Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 24 after a 3-0 start under new coach Kate Paye.
The Cardinal won its three games by an average of 41 points. They had been ranked in the preseason poll every year since 2000 until this season.
Meanwhile, South Carolina was the unanimous No. 1. The Gamecocks earned a hard-fought six-point win over Michigan in Las Vegas to open the season and beat then-No. 9 North Carolina State on Sunday by 14. UConn is ranked No. 2.
Men’s basketball
Kansas stays at No. 1 >> Kansas remained atop the first AP men’s poll of the regular season after winning a matchup of basketball bluebloods, while Gonzaga and Auburn cracked the top five after impressive opening-week wins and St. John’s led by Rick Pitino were ranked No. 22.
The Jayhawks received 44 of 62 first-place votes after a 92-89 home win against North Carolina. Alabama and two-time reigning national champion UConn were ranked after Kansas.
Women’s soccer
Stanford No. 3 seed in NCAA tournament >> Stanford (13-4-1) was named the No. 3 national seed in the NCAA women’s soccer tournament and will host UC Santa Barbara (8-5-9) in the NCAA first round on Friday at 6 p.m. at home.
The winner of the Stanford-UC Santa Barbara match will face the winner of No. 6 seed Rutgers (11-4-5) vs. UConn (13-4-4).
This is Stanford’s 33rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament overall, including its 26th in the last 27 seasons.
Cal in NCAA tourney for 28th time >> Cal is headed to the NCAA tournament for the 28th time in program history. The Bears (12-5-2), the California women’s soccer team is headed to the NCAA Championship. The Golden Bears will head to Malibu for a first-round matchup with 7th-seeded and 22nd-ranked Pepperdine this Saturday at noon on ESPN+.
Tennis
ailing Alcaraz loses >> Carlos Alcaraz struggled with a stomach issue and looked far from the player who won two Grand Slams this year while losing to Casper Ruud 6-1, 7-5 at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
In the same group, Alexander Zverev began his bid for a third ATP Finals title by beating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4.