Jack Del Rio arrested for intoxicated driving, resigns from Wisconsin football role

Jack Del Rio, a longtime NFL player and coach, was arrested Friday morning in Madison, Wisc., for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, police said.

He will step down from his advisory role with the University of Wisconsin football team, head coach Luke Fickell said Monday.

Del Rio, 61, showed signs of impairment and admitted to driving after officers responded to the scene of a car crash shortly after midnight, according to a Madison Police Department incident report.

“A vehicle hit a street sign, broke a fence and came to a rest in a yard,” the incident report reads.

Del Rio was arrested for first-offense OWI and released, police said.

A former linebacker, Del Rio suited up for the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins during his NFL playing career from 1985-1996 and totaled 1,005 tackles, 13 sacks, 13 interceptions and one Pro Bowl selection in his 11 seasons.

He served as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head coach from 2003-11 and as the then-Oakland Raiders’ head coach from 2015-17 before spending 2020-23 as the Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator from 2020-23.

Del Rio was fired by the Commanders in Week 12 of last season after Washington’s last-ranked defense got blown out by the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

In August, Wisconsin hired Del Rio as a senior advisor to Fickell, who is in his second full season as the Badgers’ head coach.

“He’s going to resign and move on,” Fickell said during a press conference. “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.”

Wisconsin is 5-4 this season, including 3-3 in Big Ten play.

“None of he or me or anybody in our athletic department wants to have a distraction from what the task is at hand,” Fickell said. “We’ve got a few weeks left in the season, a lot of things to continue to fight for, and nobody wants to take away from that.”

As an NFL head coach, Del Rio owns a 93-94 record in the regular season and is 1-3 in four playoff games.