BleedGopher
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Per Sam:
During his first two weeks back at West Virginia in December, Rich Rodriguez got a little overwhelmed. The to-do list for the head coach’s second stint leading the Mountaineers looked a lot different than it had for his first, which began 24 years ago.
With college football’s early signing period passed and its transfer portal open, Rodriguez immediately began recruiting the first of more than 35 new players (not including 21 high school recruits signed days before he arrived). He planned to hire a general manager, the modern-day head of a program’s roster management operation, but didn’t finalize the move until early January.
In the meantime, the tasks of dealing with agents and negotiating player salaries— foreign concepts to an early-2000s coach — fell on Rodriguez’s shoulders.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is why you need other people.'”
Across college football, employing a general manager has become table stakes for programs that are serious about talent acquisition. A GM’s role can vary, but in most cases, that person oversees all aspects of roster construction: high school recruiting, the transfer portal, name, image and likeness compensation and — once the House v. NCAA settlement is approved — a revenue sharing payroll. Some programs have prioritized hires with NFL experience to help navigate an offseason that looks more professionalized by the day, especially with contract negotiations and NFL-style holdouts playing out in increasingly public forums.
In 2025, the GM has become one of the most important athletic department hires a school can make. But college football GMs aren’t an overnight invention. They’re a movement nearly 20 years in the making, with the largest roots tracing to some of the sport’s most storied programs.
Major rules changes accelerated general managers’ evolution from back-office grunts to one of the most influential people in the building. And their profile is only rising.
“The job of the recruiters and the departments now is less about managing cookie cakes and official visits and much more about managing a $22 million salary cap,” said Matt Dudek, who as an Arizona staffer under Rodriguez in 2016 became the first in college football to hold the GM title.
www.nytimes.com
Go Gophers!!
During his first two weeks back at West Virginia in December, Rich Rodriguez got a little overwhelmed. The to-do list for the head coach’s second stint leading the Mountaineers looked a lot different than it had for his first, which began 24 years ago.
With college football’s early signing period passed and its transfer portal open, Rodriguez immediately began recruiting the first of more than 35 new players (not including 21 high school recruits signed days before he arrived). He planned to hire a general manager, the modern-day head of a program’s roster management operation, but didn’t finalize the move until early January.
In the meantime, the tasks of dealing with agents and negotiating player salaries— foreign concepts to an early-2000s coach — fell on Rodriguez’s shoulders.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is why you need other people.'”
Across college football, employing a general manager has become table stakes for programs that are serious about talent acquisition. A GM’s role can vary, but in most cases, that person oversees all aspects of roster construction: high school recruiting, the transfer portal, name, image and likeness compensation and — once the House v. NCAA settlement is approved — a revenue sharing payroll. Some programs have prioritized hires with NFL experience to help navigate an offseason that looks more professionalized by the day, especially with contract negotiations and NFL-style holdouts playing out in increasingly public forums.
In 2025, the GM has become one of the most important athletic department hires a school can make. But college football GMs aren’t an overnight invention. They’re a movement nearly 20 years in the making, with the largest roots tracing to some of the sport’s most storied programs.
Major rules changes accelerated general managers’ evolution from back-office grunts to one of the most influential people in the building. And their profile is only rising.
“The job of the recruiters and the departments now is less about managing cookie cakes and official visits and much more about managing a $22 million salary cap,” said Matt Dudek, who as an Arizona staffer under Rodriguez in 2016 became the first in college football to hold the GM title.
The evolution of the college football general manager, from consigliere to celebrity
In a rapidly evolving sport, the once-anonymous role of college football GM is quickly gaining name recognition and influence.
www.nytimes.com
Go Gophers!!