Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell went for continuity in his hire of new general manager, Marcus Sedberry.
Sedberry, who was officially hired to the position on Monday, previously spent three years as Wisconsin’s deputy athletic director and chief operating officer. Fickell prioritized that experience and proximity to the program during the hiring process.
Marcus is somebody that’s been close to the program that we know well,” Fickell told the Mike Heller Show on Monday afternoon. “[He’s] all-in on all the things that we’re doing. He’s somebody that obviously has a wealth of background of football and stuff like that. But for me in particular, someone that has been close to our program, knows where we’ve been the last two years, the battles we’ve had to go through. And where we have to go to move forward.
Sedberry takes over a vacant position previously held by ace recruiter Max Stienecker, who left for Big Ten rival USC earlier this offseason. The fast-rising assistant led Wisconsin to one of the best recruiting stretches in program history, with top-25 finishes in both the 2024 and 2025 cycles. Sedberry’s business background is a departure from Stienecker’s recruiting focus.
Regardless of the background or focus, Stienecker’s success left Wisconsin’s new general manager with major shoes to fill in the position.
Sedberry has nearly a decade of administrative experience at major college athletics programs: 2016-17 at Arkansas, 2017-22 at Baylor and 2022-present at Wisconsin. He takes over a general manager position that was created to help the program adapt to the rapidly changing college football landscape. Wisconsin’s press release reads that Sedberry will ‘oversee all roster management, player personnel and operations for Wisconsin Football.’
That all includes NIL management, player retention, high school recruiting, and transfer recruiting, and other operational duties.
Wisconsin football is currently preparing for spring practice in advance of the 2025 season. The spring transfer window will quickly follow in mid-April. It will mark the first major roster movement period of Sedberry’s tenure as GM. After that comes the summer recruiting push in the class of 2026. That time, of any, is when we’d likely see the impact of Stienecker’s absence.
