Martha Careful
3 months ago
In the New York Times
Managing the chaos - Enter the GM

By Kevin Draper

I’m an investigative reporter, with a focus on sports.

Notre Dame and Ohio State will meet tomorrow in the college football national championship game. After the final whistle, the authors of the victory will be paraded across your television. You will hear from the head coach, the quarterback, maybe the athletic director.

Who you probably won’t hear from, though, is the person who built the winning team: the general manager.

General managers, once purely the domain of professional sports, are taking over college football. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why.

Enter the G.M.

Managing a roster of over 100 players, and a staff of dozens, was always a difficult job for a coach. Now it is impossible.

That’s because the sport has changed drastically in the past few years. Players can be paid — for some, more than they would get in the N.F.L. — without sacrificing eligibility. And they can transfer to different schools between each season.

“The job is too big for a college coach,” said Andrew Luck, the former Stanford quarterback who recently returned to his alma mater as its football general manager. “The role has changed. The system has changed so much and continues to change.”

Luck, like most general managers, is largely responsible for securing money and signing players, many of whom announce they wish to change schools by entering the sport’s so-called transfer portal.

The portal was most recently open from Dec. 9 to 28. Not only was that over the holidays, but it was also when dozens of teams were competing in bowl games. Without a general manager, a coach would have to prepare for a big game while also evaluating thousands of potential players to build next year’s roster.

A close-up image of man wearing glasses, a red cap and a sweatshirt watching a basketball game.
Andrew Luck Josie Lepe/Associated Press
“The transfer portal was intense,” said Luck, a college football optimist who stayed at Stanford to finish his degree in 2011, even when he was projected to be the first pick in the N.F.L. draft. “If I had any romantic notion of the thing, the business side, it was lost there.”

On the field
The influence of general managers will be apparent tomorrow night: Both teams’ starting quarterbacks are transfers. Notre Dame will be led by Riley Leonard, who spent the past three seasons at Duke, and Ohio State will be led by Will Howard, who spent four seasons at Kansas State.

Of course, not all players are transfers. A majority of players on both rosters were recruited straight from high school, as they have always been. One big difference for those players, however, is they were paid to be there.

Ryan Day, Ohio State’s coach, said in 2022 that it would cost $13 million to keep his team together. Four months ago, Ohio State’s athletic director revised that figure upward and said $20 million was being spent on the team’s roster.

Looking to the future
Notre Dame and Ohio State are both powerhouses. But the College Football Playoff — the 12-team tournament that led to the championship game — also included relative upstarts like Boise State, Arizona State and Southern Methodist University.

Will the changes to college football further entrench the dominance of the blue bloods, the few programs that can raise and spend $20 million or more on a roster? Or will they allow less prestigious teams to strategically spend the dollars they do have to poach players that otherwise might have gone to the big teams? Luck, whose Stanford Cardinal program hasn’t had a winning record for seven seasons, hopes it is the latter.

“I still want to believe there is space for a broad college football landscape,” he said, “that if you hit enough of the right notes, every program has a chance to succeed and win championships.”
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Fan Shout
beast (8h) : Technically, the I in FIB stands for Italian now, Si?
dfosterf (10h) : I never thought I'd live long enough to call a pope a FIB, but here we are
Martha Careful (11h) : Chicago produces a pope before it produces a 4000 yard passing quarterback
wpr (12h) : HAHAHA Mucky Comment of the day.
Mucky Tundra (12h) : According to reports, Mel Kiper is furious that Sanders wasn't selected as the new Pope
Zero2Cool (14h) : Time taken to get picked:
Zero2Cool (14h) : New Pope: 2 days | Shedeur Sanders: 3 days
Zero2Cool (15h) : Collin Whitchurch @cowhitchurch · 1h Chicago got a pope before it got a QB to throw for 4,000 yards in a season.
Mucky Tundra (15h) : New Pope from Chicago; in other words, the city produced a Pope before a 4000 yard passer
beast (7-May) : My first name starts with R and my beer belly is quite voluptuous! Thank you for noticing 😏
Zero2Cool (7-May) : beast, you're just one R from being voluptuous.
Zero2Cool (7-May) : And now some Packers blogger is like Doubs to Steelers makes sense!!!!
Zero2Cool (7-May) : You saw me Tweet???
beast (7-May) : Supposedly Steelers will be trading WR George Pickens to the Cowboys for a 3rd and late round pick swap
Zero2Cool (5-May) : Ravens release Justin Tucker, err D. Watson Jr?
Zero2Cool (5-May) : Cardinals have signed TE Josiah Deguara.
Zero2Cool (5-May) : If I were to "Google" it, then I wouldn't read it in your words.
Martha Careful (5-May) : Yes, in the military S2’s work on IPB, PERCEC, PHYSEC and IO
dfosterf (4-May) : FYI civilian companies swipe the S2 designation from the military. S2 is the intelligence branch up to brigade level. G2 is division level.
dfosterf (4-May) : Google it. Make sure to tack NFL on it or you will get the military meaning
Zero2Cool (4-May) : S2?
beast (4-May) : Seems like the S2 has a love/hate relationship with professional scouts.
beast (4-May) : In theory, the S2 test how quickly a QBs brain can solve game like issues and how quickly they can do it.
dfosterf (4-May) : Are you gentlemen and at least one lady familiar with the S2 cognition
Zero2Cool (4-May) : Maybe there isn't an issue.
beast (4-May) : NFL really needs to fix their position labeling issue, but I don't think they care
Zero2Cool (1-May) : Packers did not activate the fifth-year options for linebacker Quay Walker, with the goal of signing him to a contract extension.
Zero2Cool (1-May) : Matthew Golden spoke with Randall Cobb before draft. Looked like chance encounter.
packerfanoutwest (1-May) : from a head left turn?
packerfanoutwest (1-May) : someone drunk?
Zero2Cool (1-May) : Unlikely.
dfosterf (30-Apr) : How long until Jeff Sperbeck's family sues John Elway ?
Zero2Cool (30-Apr) : Packers are exercising the fifth-year option on DT Devonte Wyatt, locking in a guaranteed $12.9M for the 2026 season.
beast (30-Apr) : Sounds like P Luke Elzinga has a rookie try out opportunity from the Titans
dfosterf (30-Apr) : Luke Elzinga Punter Oklahoma stil unsigned. Green Bay has been mentioned as good fit
beast (30-Apr) : The Packers re-signed three exclusive rights free agents WR Melton, P Whelan and RB Wilson.
Zero2Cool (29-Apr) : February 5, 2002 (age 23) ok no. packers.com is wrong
Zero2Cool (29-Apr) : Micah Robinson is only 19??
Zero2Cool (29-Apr) : 6 first rounders on Packers defense now
Zero2Cool (29-Apr) : LB Isaiah Simmons. Signed. Called it!!! Oh yeah!
Martha Careful (29-Apr) : ty bboystyle...fat fingers
bboystyle (29-Apr) : Tom*
Martha Careful (28-Apr) : RIP Packer Safety Tim Brown
beast (27-Apr) : Yeah, but also some of the wording suggestions Jax only pranked called the QB, not the others... and if he had an open spreadsheet & 3 calls
beast (27-Apr) : Thank goodness he's not leaving the Turtle in the Red Tide
Mucky Tundra (27-Apr) : Cowboys 1st round pick Tyler Booker will indeed be bringing his pet turtle to Dallas with him
Mucky Tundra (27-Apr) : that contained all prospects info and contact
Mucky Tundra (27-Apr) : beast, according the Falcons statement Jax came across it on an ipad. If I had to guess, probably an open spread sheet or something
Zero2Cool (27-Apr) : Simmons put up an emoji with cheese.
beast (27-Apr) : Not sure anyone is interested in Isaiah Simmons... Collin Oliver might of taken his potential slot
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