MADISON – One month after Chris McIntosh’s resignation as the Wisconsin Badgers’ athletic director, fewer question marks loom about the search for his replacement.
UW announced a search firm, committee and timeline for a hire on May 12, roughly four weeks after McIntosh’s resignation to become the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy. Interim AD Marcus Sedberry spoke with reporters on April 23 as well.
Here is what we know (and don’t know) at this point as the Badgers prepare to make only their third hire of an athletic director in three-plus decades:
Who is on Wisconsin‘s search committee?
UW’s nine-person search committee includes some accomplished alumni and former UW athletes, including Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard, Dallas Mavericks co-interim GM Michael Finley and New Jersey Devils director of player development Meghan Duggan.
- Chair: Lauren Bishop (UW professor, faculty athletics representative)
- Chris Ballard (Indianapolis Colts GM, former UW football player)
- Rob Cramer (UW vice chancellor for finance and administration, UW alum)
- Meghan Duggan (New Jersey Devils director of player development, former UW hockey player)
- Michael Finley (Dallas Mavericks co-interim GM, former UW basketball player)
- Elzie Higginbottom (president of East Lake Management & Development Corp., former UW track and field athlete)
- Marija Pientka (UW senior associate athletic director for sports administration, former UW women’s tennis athlete)
- Michael Shannon (co-founder and former chairman/CEO of KSL Capital Partners, UW alum)
- William Smith (current UW men’s soccer player, president of UW’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee)
What is Wisconsin’s timeline for hiring an athletic director?
Marcus Sedberry might not be the interim AD for long.
UW expects McIntosh’s replacement to begin work this summer, per the press release that announced the search committee and firm.
If the university stays on schedule, the Badgers would theoretically have McIntosh’s long-term replacement in time for the 2026 football season – Luke Fickell’s fourth at the helm in Madison. Fickell’s teams went 10-17 in Big Ten games in his first three seasons.
Which search firm is working with Wisconsin?
UW has tabbed CSA Search and Consulting to help with the AD search. The Raleigh, North Carolina-based firm’s “successful placements” of athletic directors listed on its website include Marquette’s Mike Broeker, Ohio State’s Ross Bjork, Georgia’s Josh Brooks and Louisville’s Josh Heird.
Will any internal candidates seek the job?
Sedberry told reporters on April 23 that he had not “really made any types of decisions” about seeking the AD role beyond his current interim status. (That was nearly three weeks before UW released details about the search firm and search committee.)
“At this point, I hadn’t really been addressing that with anybody because I just want to focus on what I have right in front of me,” Sedberry said.
Mitchell Pinta – the other deputy AD alongside Sedberry before Sedberry’s promotion to interim AD – has ruled out seeking the position. He told the Journal Sentinel that his “focus remains on continuing the strong business momentum at Wisconsin and helping the department build on that success.”
What is Marcus Sedberry’s salary as Wisconsin’s interim AD?
Sedberry’s interim appointment as athletic director comes with an annual base salary of $875,000, according to his offer letter, which the Journal Sentinel obtained via an open records request. No other terms and conditions of Sedberry’s contract changed.
If Sedberry is not hired as UW’s athletic director beyond his interim stint, his offer letter dictates that his salary will “return to at least $334,805 plus any intervening pay adjustments.” He previously was UW’s deputy AD and football general manager.
McIntosh, in comparison, had a base salary of $1.5 million for the 2025-26 academic year, which included $1 million from the university and $500,000 from the UW Foundation. His university pay was going to increase by $50,000 annually through the duration of his contract, which would have expired on June 30, 2029.
Why did Chris McIntosh leave Wisconsin?
McIntosh’s April 13 departure surprised many people – his predecessor and longtime UW luminary Barry Alvarez included – after five years leading the athletic department of his alma mater. It comes amid a challenging time for the athletic department amid overall university leadership changes and signs of waning football fan interest.
His position as the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy is a newly created role. McIntosh wrote in his letter of resignation to outgoing UW chancellor Jennifer Mnookin that it gives him a chance to help with “preserving what’s best about college athletics, most notably, the life-changing impact that it has on thousands of young people.”
McIntosh expressed a similar sentiment in a lengthy exclusive interview with the Journal Sentinel’s Lori Nickel following his departure.
“I don’t feel like I’m abandoning Wisconsin,” McIntosh said. “I will play a bigger role than I had as the athletic director in shaping a sustainable system in which the Wisconsins, and the Iowas, and the Michigan States, and everybody can prosper.”
How attractive could Wisconsin’s AD position be?
Several factors could make Wisconsin’s AD vacancy appealing to possible applicants. Teams in the Big Ten and SEC have a significant financial advantage over their peers in the Big 12, ACC and other conferences. The Badgers have the only Division I football program in a state with nearly 6 million people, and they have a strong presence in the coveted Milwaukee market.
At the same time, McIntosh’s replacement will inherit a struggling football program and could face the challenges that come with fan apathy toward the department’s biggest revenue-generating sport.
Who have been Wisconsin’s previous athletic directors?
McIntosh’s five-year tenure was relatively short compared to Alvarez’s 17 years in the role and Pat Richter’s 15 years in the role. Here is a list of UW’s non-interim athletic directors in the last 90 years:
- Chris McIntosh (2021-26)
- Barry Alvarez (2004-21)
- Pat Richter (1989-2004)
- Ade Sponberg (1987-89)
- Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch (1969-87)
- Ivan “Ivy” Williamson (1955-69)
- Guy Sundt (1950-55)
- Harry Stuhldreher (1936-50)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What we know about Wisconsin Badgers’ athletic director search