Wisconsin men’s basketball promotes Marc VandeWettering to general manager
Longtime Badgers staffer Marc VandeWettering has been promoted to general manager of the Wisconsin men’s basketball program.
The Wisconsin men's basketball program is officially stepping into the modern era and doing it with one of its most trusted staffers at the helm.
In a press release, the Badgers announced that longtime staffer Marc VandeWettering has officially been promoted to general manager. This formally establishes VandeWettering in a role that, if we’re being honest, he’s been preparing for and serving in for quite some time.
It’s not just a title change for VandeWettering. It’s Wisconsin signaling that they understand the realities of the college basketball landscape — a landscape shaped by the transfer portal, NIL collectives, player agents, roster management, and nonstop recruiting battles that leave little to no room for programs stuck operating in the past.
In this new position, VandeWettering will work directly alongside head coach Greg Gard to oversee recruiting strategy, player personnel, roster construction, and NIL revenue-sharing efforts, all while continuing to handle non-conference scheduling.
"I'm extremely happy for Marc and our program," Gard said. "He has worked tirelessly to make us better every day and has helped us navigate this new era of college basketball very successfully. Marc has been a central figure in our evolution as a program and has already been handling many of the personnel tasks for the last couple of years. Looking to the future, I'm excited to have Marc officially elevated to this administrative role and know that he will help drive our sustained success."
And if you’re wondering just how big of a deal this is, let’s break it down.
College basketball today doesn’t look anything like it did even five years ago. The introduction of NIL has flipped the power dynamics, with players now able to monetize their name, image, and likeness, and schools scrambling to build infrastructure around collectives and brand-new revenue-sharing models. Add in the transfer portal, where hundreds of athletes jump programs every offseason, and you’re looking at roster movement that rivals professional sports but without any guardrails.
In the NBA or NFL, you have a full front office: general managers, scouts, cap experts, analysts, and agents. In college? Those responsibilities often fall on the shoulders of a small coaching staff already tasked with running practices, preparing game plans, and developing players.
That’s where roles like VandeWettering’s come in.
What makes this move especially smart is that Wisconsin isn’t just reacting to the chaos of the new system; they’ve been proactively creating structure. They’ve given Gard someone he trusts implicitly to handle the nitty-gritty: conversations with player families, managing NIL expectations, evaluating portal fits, finding roster balance, and working through the agent-like representatives now involved at the college level.
For VandeWettering, it’s the culmination of more than a decade inside the Badgers basketball program.
A native of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, VandeWettering began his journey as a student manager and was the head manager during Wisconsin’s 2013–14 Final Four season under head coach Bo Ryan. After gaining additional experience as the assistant director of basketball and football operations at the Big Ten office, where he helped run championship events across multiple sports, VandeWettering returned home to Wisconsin in 2017 as the program’s director of operations.
By 2023, VandeWettering was serving as the Badgers' chief of staff, quietly shaping the team’s day-to-day functions and already playing a key role in personnel matters. This promotion just makes it official.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to support Coach Gard, our staff, and our student-athletes in this role,” VandeWettering said in the press release. “Wisconsin Men’s Basketball is built on a foundation of consistency, accountability, and a team-first approach — and I’m committed to helping us build on that legacy. Our focus is on sustaining the high standards of this program while continuing to evolve and position ourselves for long-term success in a changing landscape.”
And let’s be clear: this “changing landscape” isn’t just coachspeak.
Every major college basketball program now has to navigate the delicate balance between retaining homegrown talent and bringing in outside help through the portal to compete. It's a win-now era. They need someone monitoring NIL deals to ensure players feel valued without fracturing the locker room. They need someone to network with collectives and administrators to keep the financial machine running. They need someone to scout the portal and high school ranks during the season to identify gaps, not just for the next season, but for multiple seasons down the line.
VandeWettering is that someone for Wisconsin.
This offseason alone has shown just how critical these roles are. The Badgers had to reload their roster after a myriad of notable departures with hand-picked portal additions that fit the system and culture, all within the basketball program's financial constraints.
But beyond the transactions, this move reflects the broader plan that Gard set in motion a while back.
Gard has effectively reshaped Wisconsin’s basketball infrastructure, adding dedicated roles like Kirk Penney as offensive coordinator, Lance Randall for his range of coaching experience, and Greg Stiemsma for player development. Bringing on Isaac Wodajo as director of recruiting and scouting further shows how intentional Gard has been about elevating the program into a modern operation — without losing the cultural foundation that’s defined Badgers basketball for decades.
VandeWettering, in many ways, is the glue guy behind it all.
Gard has no intention of stepping back from the action, that much he’s made clear. That said, having a general manager-level figure in the front office gives him the ability to stay plugged in without drowning in an administrative overload. It allows the staff to be more nimble, more aggressive, and, importantly, more prepared as things keep shifting.
In the arms race of modern college hoops, you either adapt or you get left behind.
“I want to be able to control—or at least have a say—on who's coming in and who's going out of our program,” Gard said. “I give a lot of responsibility and voice to my staff.”
With VandeWettering now officially steering the ship on the front office side of things, Wisconsin isn’t just keeping pace — they’re setting themselves up to succeed for the long haul, with someone who understands the pillars this program was built on. And for a program built on consistency, accountability, and development, that’s exactly the kind of evolution that can keep the Badgers competitive for years to come.
This promotion may be behind the scenes, but its impact will be felt in every corner of the Wisconsin men's program.
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