Report: Wisconsin football promotes Marcus Sedberry to general manager

The Wisconsin Badgers have a new general manager in place. According to a report by Pete Thamel, the Badgers are making Marcus Sedberry the team’s general manager.

Prior to this role, he’s been at Wisconsin for the last three seasons as a deputy AD and COO. During that time, he had been involved in the program’s contracts. Prior to coming to Wisconsin in 2022, Marcus Sedberry spent five years with the Baylor Bears. While there, one of his roles was as a football sport administrator. He also spent time in the athletic administration with the Arkansas Razorbacks, UCF Knights, and has NFL experience with the Philadelphia Eagles.

In his own athletic career, Marcus Sedberry competed in track and field for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

In early February, the Wisconsin Badgers lost their previous general manager and player personnel director. Max Stienecker, who had been with head coach Luke Fickell since they were with the Cincinnati Bearcats, left to take on the same role with the USC Trojans. The move was made to help sure up USC’s recruiting but put Wisconsin in a difficult position moving forward as they then needed to replace him, landing about two weeks later on Marcus Sedberry.

Luke Fickell came to the Wisconsin program ahead of the 2023 season. So, Marcus Sedberry has been on the administrative time for each of his first two seasons with the program. Over the course of those seasons, the Badgers have gone 12-13 and missed out on a bowl game in 2024.

In the Class of 2025, Wisconsin had the 27th-ranked recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. That class is also eighth among Big Ten schools. That’s a year after the Badgers put together the 22nd-ranked recruiting class in the Class of 2024. Maintaining that success and potentially improving on it is going to be a key task for Marcus Sedberry.

The Transfer Portal is also going to be a challenge for Marcus Sedberry to manage in his new role. Wisconsin had the 55th-ranked transfer class in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That class has seen 18 players enter and another 18 leave the program. There will also be another Transfer Portal window this spring to manage.

College athletics are rapidly changing. For football programs looking to bring in top-tier talent, the role of general manager is becoming significantly more important around the country.