​MADISON – A former Wisconsin football standout and longtime college athletics administrator is coming back to Madison to lead the W Club.Darryl Sims has been named the director of the W Club, the UW athletic department announced in an Instagram post on Sept. 24.The W Club is the Badgers’ official letterwinner organization that provides resources and opportunities for alumni to stay engaged.Sims has led UW-Oshkosh’s athletic department – first as athletic director and then as assistant chancellor for intercollegiate athletics – since 2010. Abby Gildernick, UW-Oshkosh’s deputy AD, will serve as interim AD until the university conducts a national search.Wisconsin athletic director Shawn Eichorst and senior associate AD Chad Kimmel said in an email to letterwinners that Sims “cares deeply about Wisconsin and the people who make it special.””He has a unique ability to bring people together, and we cannot think of a better person to lead the W Club and strengthen the connection between letterwinners, the university, the department and our student-athletes,” Eichorst and Kimmel said in the email obtained by the Journal Sentinel.Sims was a two-time all-Big Ten defensive end at Wisconsin in the 1980s. He was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round pick in the 1985 NFL Draft and played 58 games for the Steelers and Cleveland Browns.He joined UW-Oshkosh as a part-time assistant in 1998 before working with the UW-Oshkosh Foundation and Oshkosh Sports Complex. He also coached with NFL Europe in the spring and had internships with several NFL teams. He was the Oakland Raiders’ assistant defensive line coach in 2006.Sims replaces Chris Solinsky, who spent five months in the W Club role before taking over as Wisconsin’s director of track and field and cross country. Solinsky replaced longtime coach Mick Byrne, who retired as the winningest coach in Big Ten men’s cross country history.(This story was updated to add new information.)This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin tabs former Badger standout, UW-Oshkosh leader to head W Club