UCLA Poaches Rising Wisconsin Football Recruiting Staffer

Wisconsin lost a key member of its recruiting staff to the Bruins on Wednesday night.

UCLA Bruins coach Bob Chesney. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Wisconsin football has another hole to fill in its recruiting department just as official visit season kicks off.

The Badgers have lost assistant director of player personnel Brandon Rose to UCLA, who hired him as their director of player personnel, according to a report from Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Rose has also since changed his X profile page to represent the move.

UCLA is set to hire Wisconsin’s Brandon Rose as director of player personnel, a source tells @CBSSports.

Worked as an assistant director of player personnel at Wisconsin the last two seasons. Before that, worked for three years at Alabama. pic.twitter.com/gJQlB4EJHV

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) May 28, 2026

Rose joined the Badgers ahead of the 2024 season after a three-year stint as a recruiting specialist at Alabama. He also spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the NFL.

Rose is the second recruiting staffer to depart Wisconsin in the last two months, as in late March, the Badgers lost their director of on-campus recruiting Taylor Ewald to Iowa State.

He's also another personnel staffer Wisconsin has lost to one of the two Los Angeles Big Ten schools. Former general manager Max Stienecker joined USC to be its executive director of player personnel last February. For what it's worth, the Trojans' recruiting prowess has absolutely exploded with the former Badger front-office member on staff.

What it means for Wisconsin

Former Wisconsin assistant director of player personnel Brandon Rose (right) and director of recruiting Pat Lambert (left). | @RoseBrandon_ on X

Rose was a rising recruiting staffer whose career was clearly on an upwards trajectory as he came to Madison. He certainly had a very solid role as the assistant director of player personnel, but that was far from a destination gig for him. Rose continues to rise through the ranks of college recruiting, and he's receiving a raise, more responsibility and moving to Los Angeles — it's hard to fault him for that.

The Badgers haven't been able to retain a handful of their recruiting personnel, yes, but that doesn't mean fans should be discouraged about the program's staff. All the aformentioned moves — Ewald to Iowa State, Stienecker to USC and now Rose to UCLA — are job upgrades (at the very least in terms of salary). These aren't lateral moves by any stretch.

It shouldn't be viewed as a negative that Wisconsin is hiring promising young recruiting staffers who eventually move onto bigger roles. If these hires were simply leaving for similar jobs at equal or worse programs, that would be more cause for concern.

The Badgers have some holes to fill in their recruiting department, and quite literally the first day of official visit season isn't exactly the best timing. Ultimately, expect Wisconsin to reload with another promising young hire.