MADISON – Two weeks ago, Marcus Sedberry spent 80-90% of his time working with the Wisconsin football program.
The general manager role is that time consuming and important.
Today? His schedule is in flux.
“If I’m honest, I’m getting into a rhythm of figuring out how to spend time around football,” Sedberry said Thursday April 23. “It’s really important to our whole operation, so you need to have eyes on it and eyes around it.”
It’s Day 11 of Sedberry’s tenure as Wisconsin’s interim athletic director and much of that time has been spent meeting with various groups in the athletic department as he works to understand and meet the needs of a 900-employee, 23-sport operation with a $203 million operating budget.
But a big decision looms. The football general manager is at the top of the food chain for the program when it comes to negotiating contracts, talking with agents and overseeing the front office operation.
How it runs as Sedberry fills the interim AD role will be one of the bigger decisions of his early tenure in the position.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a need to identify who’s going to be the GM moving forward. We plan to do that,” Sedberry said during a 30-minute interview at Camp Randall Stadium with local reporters. “(Footbal coach) Luke (Fickell) and I have said, we’ve got a couple more (spring) practices. Let’s get past that so we can look at it with clear eyes, really map things out.”
How that will look like is uncertain. For instance, would the new GM carry an interim title that would allow Sedberry to resume the position if necessary. Complicating the matter is that there is no timetable for the hire of a pernament atheletic director.
“I don’t know that I have a definitive direction on it just yet,” Sedberry said. “Know we have been discussing all possibilities. There are a lot of different ways you could go.
“You could consider an interim person to be able to help, which presents some challenges. You could go permanent and just move forward. I think it is important to note that the football program needs to know who is the GM and that there is a clear partnership, trust between that person and Luke and that we’re able to move forward in that.”
While former athletic director Chris McIntosh’s departure surprised many, Sedberry believes the football programis prepared for a situation like this because of how it has been building up its front office.
Pat Lambert has been the director of recruiting since Fickell came to UW. The program has recently added Darius Hicks as its director of scouting and player personnel. Justin Reid has been on board since last summer in a newly created position in which he helps Sedberry manage and oversee the program’s NIL and revenue sharing.
“There’s a whole team, there’s a whole operation of what we call our athlete administration operation that’s helping us navigate what some might call the front office of our athletic department,” Sedberry said. “So I’m grateful for all of them because they’ve been carrying the load and I’m appreciative of that.”
The good news for Wisconsin is McIntosh’s departure came during a somewhat slow time of the year for a general manager. The roster is set for the upcoming season and on the recruiting trail, UW accomplished a lot early with the commitment of eight players so far in the 2027 class.
The work, however, will pick up again soon. The end of May marks the beginning of official visits, a time when having a present GM will be important.
“There isn’t a whole lot of things that need to be addressed right away, but recruiting never ends and so that’s a big piece of things that we’ve got to be ready to move forward,” Fickell said after practice April 23. “We’ve got to be ready to make some decisions here at the end of spring ball.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin interim AD Marcus Sedberry considering all options in filling football GM role
Reporting by Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
