The Wisconsin football program has seen another shakeup in its personnel department — and this one stings for reasons that go beyond the job title.
Assistant Director of Player Personnel Zach Zilm announced that he’s leaving Madison for a Player Personnel role with the Las Vegas Raiders, marking a massive jump to the NFL for one of the Badgers’ brightest rising staff members in Luke Fickell’s recruiting department.
“I’m incredibly grateful and proud to share that I’ve accepted a Player Personnel position with the Las Vegas Raiders! AGTG! Let’s work! 🙏🏼,” Zilm wrote on social media. “Wisconsin Football Staff — I can’t put into words how appreciative I am for the opportunity to represent the motion W for the last 2.5 years. You took a chance on a hometown kid with nothing but a dollar & a dream! I will forever be thankful. As always, on Wisconsin.”
Zilm, a Madison East High School graduate and former UW-Eau Claire quarterback, had steadily worked his way up the ladder since joining Wisconsin as a recruiting intern in 2023. From there, he rose to recruiting analyst, then assistant director of player personnel — all in the span of about 18 months. Before joining the Badgers, Zilm cut his teeth as an offensive quality control coach (QBs) and pro liaison at Western Illinois, with earlier internships at the Naval Academy as a film evaluator.
By all accounts, Zilm was a grinder. He handled film evaluation, managed the recruiting board, assisted with future roster projections, and brought a contagious energy that quickly made him a valuable piece of Wisconsin’s operation. More and more recruits had begun citing his influence and the relationships they’d built with him during their process. In a business where things aren’t always equal, relationships will always carry weight.
Behind the scenes, Zilm was a big piece for Wisconsin. His departure comes at a time when the Badgers’ football program had been navigating several significant changes within their front office.
The Badgers lost general manager Max Stienecker to USC this offseason in a move that shook up the heart of the recruiting operation. Stienecker, just 24 years old, followed Fickell and Pat Lambert over from Cincinnati and was widely viewed as a rising star in the industry. Stienecker was credited with serving as the primary contact for top targets and helped deliver Wisconsin’s first-ever 50% blue-chip recruiting ratio in 2024.
To backfill, Wisconsin promoted Deputy Athletic Director Marcus Sedberry to general manager, leveraging his NFL and Power 5 administrative experience to help stabilize the front office. The Badgers also hired Ethan Russo as the new director of player personnel, a proven recruiter from North Texas who has run entire personnel departments and brings experience from UNLV, Utah, Rice, and even the NFL.
Assistant to the Head Coach Molly Rottinghaus also announced she’s leaving Wisconsin for a role with the Philadelphia Eagles — another staff move in an offseason full of change. But the loss of Zilm cuts a little differently. This was a hometown kid who worked his way from intern to the NFL, someone who, by his own words, came in with “nothing but a dollar and a dream.” And he leaves as a reminder that even as Wisconsin builds out its infrastructure and refines its operation, this business remains personal.
“Appreciate all you have done for our T.E.A.M. Go be great✊🏼,” wrote Wisconsin director of recruiting Pat Lambert.
The big-picture takeaway? Wisconsin, like all programs, is undergoing a major transformation, both by design and by necessity.
The college football world is moving fast. NIL collectives are reshaping how talent is acquired. NCAA revenue sharing is now legal, creating a quasi-salary-cap system that makes roster management more complex than ever. The programs that win big are the ones investing in a professional-style front office. These people can handle portal strategy, high school recruiting, short-term roster evaluation, and long-term planning, all while managing relationships inside and outside the building.
Coach Fickell knows this. That’s why Wisconsin’s front office today includes names like Sedberry, Lambert, Russo, and assistant directors like Izayah Green-May, Brandon Rose, and Jared Thompson. It’s why they’re layering experience from both college and the NFL. And they’ll find other people capable of filling the void. But continuity in this business matters.
Success at this level is about more than just org charts. It’s about retaining talent, building culture, and making sure the people inside the building have the right mix of expertise, trust, and resources to do the job.
That’s why losing someone like Zilm, a young staffer who helped carry the day-to-day recruiting operation, leaves a temporary mark.
Wisconsin football is at a crossroads under Fickell. The Badgers are 12-13 over the past two seasons with him on the sideline, coming off their first missed bowl game in over two decades. The next few recruiting cycles will be the first under this retooled front office and business model, and it’ll be a test of whether this infrastructure can deliver on its potential.
To be clear, no single staffer makes or breaks a program. But when you zoom out, it’s obvious that Wisconsin is trying to modernize and places a ton of value on promoting from within when people play their dues.
Moves like promoting Sedberry, hiring Russo, and reshuffling responsibilities across the front office show that the Badgers are serious about keeping pace in this era. However, they’ll need to be tactful in filling the void left by Zilm and continue to strengthen the boots-on-the-ground presence that keeps the operation running smoothly on a daily basis.
Because at the end of the day, success in this sport is about stacking talent, not just on the field, but in the building. And if Wisconsin wants to close the gap on the Big Ten’s elite, that mission has to happen at every level. Zilm, for his part, heads west to chase his NFL dream, leaving behind a department — and a football program — that’s still finding its footing but knows exactly where it wants to try and go. And that journey, as always, will hinge on the people who help build it.
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