One year after losing General Manager Max Stienecker to the USC Trojans, the Wisconsin Badgers are losing another top staffer in their recruiting department.
Director of Player Personnel Ethan Russo, who was hired from the North Texas Mean Green last offseason, is heading to the Oklahoma State Cowboys as their new Executive Director of Player Personnel.
With the move, Russo is reuniting with new Cowboys head coach Eric Morris, who was hired from North Texas earlier this offseason. He had been North Texas’s
Director of Player Personnel in 2024 after joining the staff as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel in 2023.
Prior to his time at North Texas, Russo had been at UNLV, where he was the Director of Player Personnel in 2022. He also worked at Utah between 2019-22, starting as a Player Personnel & Recruiting Assistant before later being elevated to Assistant Director of Player Personnel. He started off his college football career at Rice in 2018 as a Player Personnel & Recruiting Analyst.
Russo also has NFL experience with the Indianapolis Colts and the Cleveland Browns.
The Badgers have seen some big shakeups with their personnel department, as Assistant Director of Player Personnel Zach Zilm also left last year for a role with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Now, they’ll need to find another top staffer to complement Director of Recruiting Pat Lambert, and it’ll be another important hire for head coach Luke Fickell.
