The Badgers are losing the most important staffer in their recruiting department.
In a stunning move, the Wisconsin Badgers are losing general manager Max Stienecker to the USC Trojans, who have been making waves recently after hiring Notre Dame’s Chad Bowden as their new general manager.
Stienecker, considered one of the best rising recruiting assistants in the country, had been promoted to general manager last summer from his previous role of Director of Player Personnel. He had been with Luke Fickell since his early days with the Cincinnati Bearcats, following the head coach to Wisconsin in 2022.
Since coming to Wisconsin, Stienecker was the architect of back-to-back Top 25 recruiting classes, with many recruits handpicking the general manager as a key reason for their commitments, citing his energy and ability to connect with players.
Stienecker will now join what is quickly becoming an all-star staff under Chad Bowden at USC, who was hired from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in late January.
This isn’t the first time over the last 10 days that USC has poached a top Big Ten executive, as Bowden recently hired Illinois’s Director of Player Personnel Dre Brown into an executive role as well last week.
Stienecker has familiarity with Bowden, having worked together in the recruiting department at Cincinnati from 2018-22. Now, he’ll be a part of one of the best executive staffs in the country, just for a different Big Ten team.