I think an important development just occured over on the Farm (and it going to be true at a LOT of schools in the coming years).

Since before we were born the College football coach has been BOTH the GM AND the head football coach. Not only responsible for game day and "coaching" but also recruitment (and the hiring of recruiters).

There is a lot of chatter that what we are going to see is a lot of "football GMs" hired in the coming years. They likely will be responsible for hiring and firing coaches. They absolutely will have responsibility for assembling rosters and driving the "character" of the program as they think about the ways to share out revenue sharing and staying "within budget".

It also is likely the case that as a percentage of revenue coaching compensation goes down.

Now I would NEVER expect Cal to be out in front of an innovative trend in ICA but one idea might be to focus energy there. Get the right GM and make Wilcox report to them. Potentially that gets his butt gone sooner but would absolutely put front and center the question of talent /coaching.

(Note I think with 4 OC in 8 years Wilcox fails the "just be a coach" criteria as well.

socaltownie said:

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I think an important development just occured over on the Farm (and it going to be true at a LOT of schools in the coming years).

Since before we were born the College football coach has been BOTH the GM AND the head football coach. Not only responsible for game day and "coaching" but also recruitment (and the hiring of recruiters).

There is a lot of chatter that what we are going to see is a lot of "football GMs" hired in the coming years. They likely will be responsible for hiring and firing coaches. They absolutely will have responsibility for assembling rosters and driving the "character" of the program as they think about the ways to share out revenue sharing and staying "within budget".

It also is likely the case that as a percentage of revenue coaching compensation goes down.

Now I would NEVER expect Cal to be out in front of an innovative trend in ICA but one idea might be to focus energy there. Get the right GM and make Wilcox report to them. Potentially that gets his butt gone sooner but would absolutely put front and center the question of talent /coaching.

(Note I think with 4 OC in 8 years Wilcox fails the "just be a coach" criteria as well.

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Agreed. Much as I hate to admit it, somebody at Stanfurd occasionally has a good idea. I said on the Andrew Luck thread, aside from the advantages you list above, this GM is also a way to kick-start change in spite of the "can't afford to fire Knowlton/Wilcox" problem and this is critical. Cal football needs to get better quickly. If there are alumni who will support football, but not under K/W, they'll be willing to fund this GM position. Along with the responsibilities you list above, I'd include:

• The football GM, officially or unofficially, reports directly to Lyon, at least as long as Knowlton is around
• The football GM is also responsible for all football marketing strategy

You know this has been going on for a decade, right? Stanford isn't the first, or even the fifth, school to hire a football GM

Are they akin to nfl gm's with roster responsibility. Not saying furd is first but that is the new wrinkle which is emerging.

Yea that was supposed to be a response to HearstMining, not you. But a college GM is basically a football-specific AD. They make the decisions and pass them along to the AD and have the time and focus to concentrate on all the detailed minutiae that the revenue sports need but that an AD who also has to oversee all the other programs can't give all their time to. Some examples would be scheduling, hires, full staffing and budgeting, marketing, donor outreach, NIL implementation and allotment (obviously a more recent development), communicating with the apparel companies and okaying the design of uniforms and team gear, etc.

It's a smart move because the attention necessary for the football program is a full time job but an AD can't spend all their time on football even though it's what drives a te other sports. And at schools like Cal and lsju, who have so many Olympic programs, division of labor is a necessity. Also, you can hire a football-centric person who the university may not have hired for the actual AD spot but who's the actual person you want overseeing the most important program

Bearly Clad said:

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Yea that was supposed to be a response to HearstMining, not you. But a college GM is basically a football-specific AD. They make the decisions and pass them along to the AD and have the time and focus to concentrate on all the detailed minutiae that the revenue sports need but that an AD who also has to oversee all the other programs can't give all their time to. Some examples would be scheduling, hires, full staffing and budgeting, marketing, donor outreach, NIL implementation and allotment (obviously a more recent development), communicating with the apparel companies and okaying the design of uniforms and team gear, etc.

It's a smart move because the attention necessary for the football program is a full time job but an AD can't spend all their time on football even though it's what drives a te other sports. And at schools like Cal and lsju, who have so many Olympic programs, division of labor is a necessity. Also, you can hire a football-centric person who the university may not have hired for the actual AD spot but who's the actual person you want overseeing the most important program

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Who is the football gm's boss?

Bearly Clad said:

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Yea that was supposed to be a response to HearstMining, not you. But a college GM is basically a football-specific AD. They make the decisions and pass them along to the AD and have the time and focus to concentrate on all the detailed minutiae that the revenue sports need but that an AD who also has to oversee all the other programs can't give all their time to. Some examples would be scheduling, hires, full staffing and budgeting, marketing, donor outreach, NIL implementation and allotment (obviously a more recent development), communicating with the apparel companies and okaying the design of uniforms and team gear, etc.

It's a smart move because the attention necessary for the football program is a full time job but an AD can't spend all their time on football even though it's what drives a te other sports. And at schools like Cal and lsju, who have so many Olympic programs, division of labor is a necessity. Also, you can hire a football-centric person who the university may not have hired for the actual AD spot but who's the actual person you want overseeing the most important program

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I think these GMs will look like the NFL GMs do - in charge of roster formation. Sea change for the industry but has long been SOP in the NFL to free up coaches from all the challenges of talent acquisition and retention. Obviously coaches will be in constant communication at good programs (as they are in the NFL).

Bearly Clad said:

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Yea that was supposed to be a response to HearstMining, not you. But a college GM is basically a football-specific AD. They make the decisions and pass them along to the AD and have the time and focus to concentrate on all the detailed minutiae that the revenue sports need but that an AD who also has to oversee all the other programs can't give all their time to. Some examples would be scheduling, hires, full staffing and budgeting, marketing, donor outreach, NIL implementation and allotment (obviously a more recent development), communicating with the apparel companies and okaying the design of uniforms and team gear, etc.

It's a smart move because the attention necessary for the football program is a full time job but an AD can't spend all their time on football even though it's what drives a te other sports. And at schools like Cal and lsju, who have so many Olympic programs, division of labor is a necessity. Also, you can hire a football-centric person who the university may not have hired for the actual AD spot but who's the actual person you want overseeing the most important program

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You are correct, I did not know that. I assume that some ADs focus almost entirely on football but what schools already have designated football GMs?

We should do the reverse. Hire a non-football AD (e.g. Knowlton) and have a football AD that reports to the chancellor. Adding a "layer" is not the solution. The administrative support for athletics at Cal is huge.

MilleniaBear said:

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The administrative support for athletics at Cal is huge.

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Oh, how I wish that were true. For decades the Administration has given the impression that it could care less about sports. So far, I've seen no sign that Lyons will change that.

The issue isn't personnel under Wilcox it's playcalling.
And unless a "gm" is expected to come in and order Wilcox to stop calling nickel zone prevent looks with ground and pound 2 yard run plays repeatedly with 2 score 3rd quarter leads nothing will ever change.
I don't care if we have 3 all American transfers on both sides of the ball; the game of football has evolved to counter old school play calling and until Wilcox is gone we are a 7 win team at best every year irrespective of the talent at each position.

Tbf a football GM would most likely be responsible for bringing in the next coach. But they could have been responsible for covering up some of Wilcox's bigger mistakes like sticking with Baldwin and Musgrave for too long. Wilcox loyalty to underperforming assistants has been a recurring issue except for now when he knows he's on a short runway

evanluck said:

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01Bear said:

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CheezIt Bear said:

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socaltownie said:

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I think an important development just occured over on the Farm (and it going to be true at a LOT of schools in the coming years).

Since before we were born the College football coach has been BOTH the GM AND the head football coach. Not only responsible for game day and "coaching" but also recruitment (and the hiring of recruiters).

There is a lot of chatter that what we are going to see is a lot of "football GMs" hired in the coming years. They likely will be responsible for hiring and firing coaches. They absolutely will have responsibility for assembling rosters and driving the "character" of the program as they think about the ways to share out revenue sharing and staying "within budget".

It also is likely the case that as a percentage of revenue coaching compensation goes down.

Now I would NEVER expect Cal to be out in front of an innovative trend in ICA but one idea might be to focus energy there. Get the right GM and make Wilcox report to them. Potentially that gets his butt gone sooner but would absolutely put front and center the question of talent /coaching.

(Note I think with 4 OC in 8 years Wilcox fails the "just be a coach" criteria as well.

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Get a GM, don't get a GM - I'm not really sure it matters a lot. Assign all of the non-revenue sports to an assistant athletic director if you want so that the athletic director is laser focused on the revenue generating sports. But the coach situation has to be dealt with and as long as the program continues to make excuses why we can't fix the problem created by Jim Knowlton, the Cal athletic department will continue to throw away opportunities to sell more tickets and go to better bowl games. 90% of the fanbase has given up on Wilcox at this point and it's only the people who are distracted by his nice-guy persona who are invested in trying to prop him up going forward. He's a losing coach in a results-oriented business.

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Even my UCLA friends think Cal needs to fire Wilcox. They also believe that so long as Wilcox remains the Cal HC, Cal will remain mediocre. They were convinced that Wilcox needs to be fired by the horrible performance against FSU and the second half meltdown against Miami.

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Even your UCLA friends?! That settles it then, let me get my check book.

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Lol! I just meant that Wilcox's ineptitude isn't just recognized by Cal fans. Even other programs' fans recognize how badly Wilcox screwed Cal this year.

01Bear said:

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evanluck said:

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01Bear said:

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CheezIt Bear said:

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socaltownie said:

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I think an important development just occured over on the Farm (and it going to be true at a LOT of schools in the coming years).

Since before we were born the College football coach has been BOTH the GM AND the head football coach. Not only responsible for game day and "coaching" but also recruitment (and the hiring of recruiters).

There is a lot of chatter that what we are going to see is a lot of "football GMs" hired in the coming years. They likely will be responsible for hiring and firing coaches. They absolutely will have responsibility for assembling rosters and driving the "character" of the program as they think about the ways to share out revenue sharing and staying "within budget".

It also is likely the case that as a percentage of revenue coaching compensation goes down.

Now I would NEVER expect Cal to be out in front of an innovative trend in ICA but one idea might be to focus energy there. Get the right GM and make Wilcox report to them. Potentially that gets his butt gone sooner but would absolutely put front and center the question of talent /coaching.

(Note I think with 4 OC in 8 years Wilcox fails the "just be a coach" criteria as well.

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Get a GM, don't get a GM - I'm not really sure it matters a lot. Assign all of the non-revenue sports to an assistant athletic director if you want so that the athletic director is laser focused on the revenue generating sports. But the coach situation has to be dealt with and as long as the program continues to make excuses why we can't fix the problem created by Jim Knowlton, the Cal athletic department will continue to throw away opportunities to sell more tickets and go to better bowl games. 90% of the fanbase has given up on Wilcox at this point and it's only the people who are distracted by his nice-guy persona who are invested in trying to prop him up going forward. He's a losing coach in a results-oriented business.

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Even my UCLA friends think Cal needs to fire Wilcox. They also believe that so long as Wilcox remains the Cal HC, Cal will remain mediocre. They were convinced that Wilcox needs to be fired by the horrible performance against FSU and the second half meltdown against Miami.

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Even your UCLA friends?! That settles it then, let me get my check book.

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Lol! I just meant that Wilcox's ineptitude isn't just recognized by Cal fans. Even other programs' fans recognize how badly Wilcox screwed Cal this year.

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And last year, and the year before, and the year before that...

southseasbear said:

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01Bear said:

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evanluck said:

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01Bear said:

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CheezIt Bear said:

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socaltownie said:

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I think an important development just occured over on the Farm (and it going to be true at a LOT of schools in the coming years).

Since before we were born the College football coach has been BOTH the GM AND the head football coach. Not only responsible for game day and "coaching" but also recruitment (and the hiring of recruiters).

There is a lot of chatter that what we are going to see is a lot of "football GMs" hired in the coming years. They likely will be responsible for hiring and firing coaches. They absolutely will have responsibility for assembling rosters and driving the "character" of the program as they think about the ways to share out revenue sharing and staying "within budget".

It also is likely the case that as a percentage of revenue coaching compensation goes down.

Now I would NEVER expect Cal to be out in front of an innovative trend in ICA but one idea might be to focus energy there. Get the right GM and make Wilcox report to them. Potentially that gets his butt gone sooner but would absolutely put front and center the question of talent /coaching.

(Note I think with 4 OC in 8 years Wilcox fails the "just be a coach" criteria as well.

---

Get a GM, don't get a GM - I'm not really sure it matters a lot. Assign all of the non-revenue sports to an assistant athletic director if you want so that the athletic director is laser focused on the revenue generating sports. But the coach situation has to be dealt with and as long as the program continues to make excuses why we can't fix the problem created by Jim Knowlton, the Cal athletic department will continue to throw away opportunities to sell more tickets and go to better bowl games. 90% of the fanbase has given up on Wilcox at this point and it's only the people who are distracted by his nice-guy persona who are invested in trying to prop him up going forward. He's a losing coach in a results-oriented business.

---

Even my UCLA friends think Cal needs to fire Wilcox. They also believe that so long as Wilcox remains the Cal HC, Cal will remain mediocre. They were convinced that Wilcox needs to be fired by the horrible performance against FSU and the second half meltdown against Miami.

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Even your UCLA friends?! That settles it then, let me get my check book.

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Lol! I just meant that Wilcox's ineptitude isn't just recognized by Cal fans. Even other programs' fans recognize how badly Wilcox screwed Cal this year.

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And last year, and the year before, and the year before that...

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Yup! But I don't think outsiders paid attention to the Cal football program until this year.