Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball names out gay staffer new General Manager
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team has a new General Manager in Marc Vandewettering. The school announced Vandewettering’s new role yesterday. The promotion is a powerful one for the Badgers, as well as the LGBTQ community: Vandewettering is an out gay man who has shared his story publicly and lived his life openly on social […] The post Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball names out gay staffer new General Manager appeared first on Outsports.
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The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team has a new General Manager in Marc Vandewettering. The school announced Vandewettering’s new role yesterday.
The promotion is a powerful one for the Badgers, as well as the LGBTQ community: Vandewettering is an out gay man who has shared his story publicly and lived his life openly on social media.
Vandewettering is so out, in fact, that he has the date he came out as gay to his family tattooed on his arm: Dec. 26, 2015.
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He’s been totally out as a gay man as the men’s basketball team’s director of basketball operations, a position he’s held since 2017. The last two seasons he’s also served as the team’s chief of staff.
He was, as far as Outsports knows, the only out man on the bench of a team in this year’s NCAA Men’s March Madness.
Head coach Greg Gard made the announcement of Vandewettering’s promotion and praised his contributions to the team’s success.
“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 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.”
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Wisconsin has the only publicly out gay man on a Men’s March Madness team this year
Marc VandeWettering has thrived with the Wisconsin Badgers’ basketball team. He wants other LGBTQ people to feel comfortable to come out.
With Vandewettering as the team’s DOBO, the Badgers won two regular-season Big Ten Championships and went to the NCAA tournament four of the six seasons.
In 2021, he wrote a compelling post for the University of Wisconsin athletic department about his struggles with being gay, being in major men’s sports, and his hopes of inspiring others to see the possibility in their own lives.
“I don’t want anyone else to have to go through those feelings of maybe having to change careers because they can’t be openly gay and work in major college men’s basketball,” Vandewettering wrote.
The General Manager role in colleg sports has grown quickly in popularity over the last couple years, as college sports programs grapple with new rules on NIL and transfer protocols. Many of the major men’s basketball and football teams are adding the expanding role.
“Wisconsin Men’s Basketball is built on a foundation of consistency, accountability, and a team-first approach,” Vandewettering in the announcement of his promotion, “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.”
Outsports wishes Vandewettering and the Badgers great fortune in the seasons ahead.
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The post Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball names out gay staffer new General Manager appeared first on Outsports.
