Barry Alvarez was born and raised in Langeloth, Pennsylvania, where his family settled after his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Spain. He graduated from Burgettstown Union High School in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he played linebacker from 1966 to 1968 under Bob Devaney, who became one of his major coaching influences along with Hayden Fry and Lou Holtz. Alvarez intercepted a pass in a game played between the Cornhuskers and the Badgers in Madison. Alvarez later became a head coach at Lexington High School in Lexington, Nebraska and then Mason City High School in Mason City, Iowa where the Mohawks won the 1978 class 4A state title, 15–13, over Dubuque Hempstead before becoming an assistant coach at University of Iowa and then at the University of Notre Dame.