USC Trojans Hire Max Stienecker As Executive Director Of Player Personnel

The USC Trojans have officially announced the signing of Max Stienecker as the executive director of player personnel. Stienecker has previously worked in the personnel departments at Cincinnati and Wisconsin. Although young, Stienecker brings experience and proven results from his previous stops, and USC has one of the most sought-after talents on the personnel side.

As the USC Trojans continue to emphasize recruiting, the official hiring of young, emerging personnel talents like Stienecker signals the clear intent to not only improve, but dominate this area of the program. Stienecker becomes the second sitting general manager to leave their program to join the USC Trojans staff. General manager Chad Bowden, who was the FootballScoop Player Personnel Assistant of the Year, left Marcus Freeman and the national runner-up Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Please welcome @_maximus347 as our executive director of player personnel‼️✌️ pic.twitter.com/VvtAFnfKbP
— USC Football ✌️ (@uscfb) February 13, 2025

Stienecker, just 24 years old, has been named to On3’s rising personnel stars to watch and 247Sports 30 under 30 list over the past two seasons. Stienecker was the youngest director of player personnel at the power conference level. Bowden, who was the general manager at Cincinnati, helped Stienecker begin his career in the personnel department. Now, after both have general manager experience elsewhere, the two reunite under Lincoln Riley at one of the most prestigious universities in collegiate athletics.

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The college football landscape is increasingly shifting towards an NFL-esque blueprint with the increased staffing and 12-team playoff. USC may have been slightly late to the party initially, but they’ve gone in overdrive and now present as one of the foremost adaptors to the new changes. The Trojans have built arguably the best personnel staff in college football and have also loaded the on-field coaching staff with legitimate recruiting aces as well. With other teams around the Big Ten suffering major losses, the Trojans have an opportunity to be major risers.

The situation as a whole is incredibly beneficial for a coach like Lincoln Riley, who strongly prefers to focus on the football side of the job. By being more hands-off with recruiting and the day-to-day operations of the program, the Trojans leader can do what he does best: craft a high-scoring, high-powered offense and develop quarterbacks who play on Sundays. The investment from the university to free up their coach is impressive. Going into year four at USC, the Lincoln Riley era has more backing than ever.

Wisconsin general manager Max Stienecker has accepted a position at USC, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports.

One of the top rising stars in the college front office world headed to work with new USC GM Chad Bowden at USC.https://t.co/qOetA1jj8s pic.twitter.com/YmR2YbC1TC
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 4, 2025

The Trojans currently have the composite number two ranked recruiting class in the 2026 cycle. Although early in the process, the Trojans have not been in this position in a long time with recruiting momentum. The proactive attacking approach is a new look for the program and already paying dividends with the results. The current Trojans are well into the winter workout program and are just weeks away from starting spring practice.

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