Oct. 5, 2015

MADISON, Wis. - Andy Baggot, who spent the last 37 years as a sports reporter at the Wisconsin State Journal, is the newest member of the UWBadgers.com team, joining the Wisconsin Athletic Department in the role of UWBadgers.com Insider.

Baggot joins UWBadgers.com Senior Writer Mike Lucas and "The Voice of the Badgers" Matt Lepay as the main content providers for UWBadgers.com, the official website of Wisconsin Athletics, and 'Varsity' Magazine, the department's official digital magazine. Together, they have more than 100 years of combined experience covering Badgers athletics.

"We are extremely excited to add Andy to our coverage team," UW Director of Athletic Communications Brian Lucas said. "He brings a tremendous amount of experience, enthusiasm and passion for the Badgers to the role. Combined with Mike and Matt, we feel they make UWBadgers.com a great destination for Badgers fans to get news and features about their favorite teams."

Baggot brings his unique perspective to UWBadgers.com. He will be involved in daily coverage of the football team while also utilizing his vast experience and knowledge of the department to relay important stories to fans of all of the Badgers' 23 varsity teams. His contributions will mainly be written but will also include an on-camera role with an eye toward expanding the department's new media efforts. He is active on Twitter at @AndyBaggot.

From July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, UWBadgers.com had more than 6 million unique viewers and 33 million page views. During that same time period the 'Varsity' Magazine app was downloaded by more than 23,000 users and the 37 issues garnered more than 4.7 million page views.

Baggot began his career as a sports reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal in August 1978. During his time with the newspaper he covered Wisconsin athletics, specifically football and men's hockey, while also writing about athletics administration and pieces that touched on all of the department's 23 sports. In addition to covering UW, Baggot also handled beat reporting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers during his career.

"There are so many stories waiting to be told about the people of UW Athletics, Baggot said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to write them and can't wait to begin.''