The Wisconsin Badgers football front office is having a little bit of a makeover. Chris McIntosh stepped down from his role as Wisconsin’s athletic director to take a new job with the Big Ten office. It would have been a challenge for the program to find someone capable of replacing him, as he’d been the AD since 2021. But the team was confident enough to pick an internal staffer to handle McIntosh’s responsibilities as of now.

Wisconsin has named deputy athletic director Marcus Sedberry as the school’s interim athletic director. Sedberry comes with heaps of experience in the SEC, Big 12, and even the NFL. He has been working with Wisconsin’s athletic department since 2022, and was named the general manager of the football team.

“I am confident that Marcus, who has been a part of the UW community since 2022 and has played an integral role in every aspect of our athletics enterprise since his arrival, will do an outstanding job,” McIntosh said in a statement.

Marcus Sedberry has played a big role in helping Wisconsin athletics grow and improve in many ways. He has led and helped major projects, like the $285 million Kellner Family Athletic Center, the $100 million Building Champions Capital Campaign and has also been responsible for hiring multiple head coaches, including football. Sedberry has also created a dedicated, pro-style front office that now looks after revenue sharing, contract negotiations, and other personnel-related issues. Before working at Wisconsin, Sedberry worked at Baylor University as the Senior Associate Athletics Director.

Sedberry was a key figure in building Wisconsin football’s player personnel strategy, in light of the school adapting to the new era of college sports. He had also been a huge help in the Badgers’ transfer portal strategy this offseason. He and Luke Fickell worked with an organized team to approach multiple targets. According to Sedberry, Wisconsin was looking at five targets for each open position. According to On3, the Badgers’ 2026 transfer class was ranked at an impressive No. 15. Last year, they were not even in the Top 50.

Marcus Sedberry has a stellar resume, but he will still have to fight for the job. Wisconsin will be looking at some interesting targets who can continue building on the momentum in the athletics department.

Wisconsin search for AD position

One early candidate is Sean Frazier, who is currently the athletic director at Northern Illinois University. Frazier has strong ties to Wisconsin because he worked there from 2007 to 2013 as a deputy athletic director. He also worked under former AD and Wisconsin football head coach Barry Alvarez as his chief of staff. Frazier has been known to generate a lot out of very little, and that could be helpful for a school like Wisconsin, which is embattled with poor funding.

Another strong candidate for the Wisconsin athletic director job is Josh Whitman, who is currently the athletic director at Illinois. His work there has been well respected. However, he has never worked at Wisconsin before, which makes him less familiar with the school compared to some other candidates. But under his leadership, the Illinois football is entering the 2026 season after a great 2025 run. The basketball team has seen a lot of success last year.

Based on recent history, the school has relied on internal figures to be the athletic director. After the legendary Pat Richter stepped down, Barry Alvarez was named the athletic director. Chris McIntosh had been in the department while Alvarez was still there. That is enough precedent for Marcus Sedberry to also be named the next AD, but the job is not his yet.