Indiana quietly lost senior director of recruiting Lee Wilbanks during the offseason. He’s now with Mississippi State according to his Twitter bio.
According to reports on Tuesday, they’ve found a replacement from the SEC.
As first reported by Matt Zenitz of On3, IU will hire former Auburn director of player personnel Steven Ruzic as its “general manager.”
Indiana confirmed the report on Wednesday evening and listed Ruzic as an Assistant AD for Recruiting.
At Auburn Ruzic’s role was to oversee all recruiting evaluations and the recruiting pipeline, and to assist with overseeing and managing the recruiting department & its operations.
He’ll ostensibly step into Wilbanks’ position, which entailed similar duties. The general manager title is likely in reference to the year-round roster management duties brought on by the transfer portal in addition to traditional high school recruiting.
Ruzic spent the last year at Auburn and helped assemble the No. 18 class in the country.
Prior to that he spent a year and a half at North Carolina and oversaw the evaluation and recruiting process for the offensive side of the ball, and assisted with managing all of the recruiting operations both on and off campus; as well as coordinating all recruiting communications. He helped UNC secure their highest ranked recruiting class in program history with a ranking of No. 9 in the country.
Before that Ruzic was the Director of Recruiting Communications at Minnesota at the same time as IU defensive coordinator Chad Wilt. There Ruzic coordinated all recruiting communications, on-campus recruiting plans, and the evaluation process for both the offense & defense. In 2019, Minnesota won the most games in a single season since 1904 and claimed the Outback Bowl. Ruzic played an integral part in the recruiting classes at Minnesota, helping to secure their highest-ranked classes, both years.
Prior to that at Ole Miss, Ruzic oversaw 10 recruiting specialists who managed recruiting film and breakdowns for the evaluation process. He assisted with all on and off campus recruiting, and helped sign a Top 25 class.
In a year at UT Chattanooga (July 2017 – March 2018) Ruzic was the Assistant Director of Recruiting/Defensive Analyst/Video Coordinator. He helped assist with a Top 10 defense and signed the No. 3-ranked class in FCS, the highest ranked class in program history.
He started his career at his alma mater, Valdosta State University, where from January 2010 to December 2013, he was a Defensive Student Assistant. He assisted with on field staff duties for a program crowned 2012 Division II National Champions.
Ruzic grew up in a key recruiting area for IU. He was born & raised in Warner Robins, Georgia, where his father was a high school coach.
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