MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Chris McIntosh is stepping down as Wisconsin’s athletic director and moving into the Big Ten office as the conference’s deputy commissioner for strategy.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti announced the move on Monday after it had been previously reported by the Wisconsin State Journal and Sports Business Journal. McIntosh, who had been Wisconsin’s athletic director since the summer of 2021, will take over his new position on May 1.
“There is never a good time to leave an organization, especially one where I feel so connected and where there is more great work to be done,” McIntosh said in letter to the Wisconsin community that was released by the university. "I was not searching for something new, as not only do I love the University of Wisconsin, I also believe the position of its athletic director is one of the best jobs in the country.
“This newly created position with the Big Ten Conference, however, represents a unique and incredible opportunity for me to draw on the experience and insight I have gained over the past many years to help shape what comes next for the conference, including the University of Wisconsin. I see it as a natural extension of my work.”
McIntosh said his resignation at Wisconsin is effective Monday. Under this newly created role in the Big Ten office, McIntosh is expected to advise Petitti and lead overall strategy development for the conference.
Wisconsin Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said Marcus Sedberry, who had been working as Wisconsin's deputy athletic director/chief operating officer, will serve as interim athletic director.
Mnookin is leaving Wisconsin to become Columbia University's president on July 1. Mnookin said she has asked interim Chancellor-designate Eric Wilcots to “take the lead in determining what a search for a new director of athletics may look like and when it will occur.”
McIntosh, 49, took over as Wisconsin’s athletic director after the retirement of Barry Alvarez. McIntosh had played for two Rose Bowl championship teams under Alvarez at Wisconsin and had returned to his alma mater in 2014 as an associate athletic director.
He made some major moves early in his tenure.
McIntosh fired Paul Chryst as football coach midway through the 2023 season and then hired Luke Fickell away from Cincinnati later that year. The Fickell move garnered plenty of attention nationwide because Wisconsin had been expected to simply remove the interim tag from Jim Leonhard, a former Wisconsin and NFL safety who had gone 4-3 following the firing of Chryst after a long and successful run as the Badgers’ defensive coordinator.
Fickell had gone 53-10 his last five seasons at Cincinnati and helped the Bearcats earn a College Football Playoff berth in 2021, but he hasn’t come close to approaching that success at Wisconsin. He has gone 17-21, including a 4-8 finish last year and a 5-7 mark in 2024 that snapped what had been a Power Four-leading streak of 22 consecutive winning seasons.
McIntosh had announced late last season he was bringing back Fickell and promised a greater financial investment in the football program. That helped Wisconsin sign 34 transfers — including 27 from other Football Bowl Subdivision schools — this offseason.
Also in 2023, McIntosh fired Tony Granato as men’s hockey coach and brought in Mike Hastings, who had led Minnesota State to consecutive Frozen Four appearances in 2021 and 2022. That move has worked out much better, as Wisconsin reached the Frozen Four this season and lost 2-1 to Denver in the national championship game Saturday.
During McIntosh’s stint as athletic director, Wisconsin has won three national championships in women’s ice hockey (2023, 2025 and 2026) and one in women’s volleyball (2021). Wisconsin also has produced five individual NCAA champions and 13 Big Ten team titles during that stretch.
“Chris has contributed much to our campus and to the broader community,” Mnookin said in a letter to the Wisconsin community. “Under his leadership of Wisconsin Athletics, student-athletes have excelled both athletically and academically. In addition to winning several conference and national titles, our overall student-athlete graduation success rate is 91%, with record highs in each of the last eight years.”
McIntosh was a consensus All-America offensive tackle during his playing career and was a captain on Wisconsin’s 1998 and 1999 teams that both won Rose Bowls. The Seattle Seahawks selected him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2000 draft.
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