Wisconsin promotes player personnel director Max Stienecker to general manager, per report

The Wisconsin Badgers football program has made a big change in their leadership. On Tuesday, Matt Zenitz revealed that the Badgers were promoting player personnel director, Max Stienecker, to general manager.

“Wisconsin has promoted player personnel director Max Stienecker to general manager, a source tells @247sports/ @CBSSports. The 24-year-old is one of the nation’s top rising stars in the personnel space. Is now the youngest P4 GM in the country — and maybe ever,” wrote Zenitz via X.

Stienecker was entering his second season as the director of player personnel under head coach Luke Fickell. Wisconsin’s new general manager also got his start as a staffer under Fickell at the University of Cincinnati in 2018. For the Bearcats, he started out as a student assistant before moving into a more prominent role, becoming a director of on-campus recruiting in 2021.

Fickell gushes about how Tyler Van Dyke has handled transition to Wisconsin

QB Tyler Van Dyke was the most significant offseason addition for Wisconsin. However, his commitment has meant more than just what he brings on the field according to Luke Fickell.

Fickell spoke about Van Dyke during his time at the podium at Big Ten Media Days from Indianapolis on Tuesday. As he put it, there’s more than one aspect that he can point to when it comes to the Badgers’ newest quarterback.

“Tyler Van Dyke – I can say a lot of great things about Tyler,” said Fickell.

That starts with Van Dyke’s approach since arriving in Madison. He hasn’t assumed anything and has instead accepted all that comes with joining Wisconsin’s building. That has allowed him to fit in well early with his next team.

“I think the greatest thing is Tyler has walked in and embraced everything with our program – understood what he was walking into in year one, the ups and the downs, the things that we needed from him. He has got a humility behind himself when he walked in the door,” said Fickell. “He was willing and understood that he was going to have to earn everything, understood that it was going to be a battle. There weren’t going to be keys that were just handed to him.”

“I think the greatest thing about Tyler is his ability to say, ‘I need to refocus,’” Fickell added. “I understand what his goals were individually. He knew that there were things he needed to continue to grow to do.”