Why former NFL GM Doug Whaley is stepping into NIL as senior advisor for Pitt's Alliance 412

General manager positions have become all the rage in college football and basketball in the past 16 months. With the new age of NIL and the transfer portal, head coaches decided to hand off some of those roles to personnel who can worry about the day-to-day of the overall program.

Doug Whaley has plenty of experience in running a front office. The former general manager of the Buffalo Bills, he spent nearly 20 years working in personnel roles throughout the NFL. In his three-year stint as general manager in Buffalo, he oversaw negotiations, evaluated talent and managed a salary cap.

Now Whaley is taking a step back into the college ranks.

Instead of joining a football program, however, he’s entering the world of NIL collectives. The former Pitt cornerback has been named the Senior Advisor of Player Administration of the Alliance 412. In the role, he’ll help the collective manage its funds and stay in contact with current Pitt athletes.

“I’m a competitive junkie, and I like a challenge,” Whaley told On3 in a recent phone interview. “So, because this is a new frontier, I’m excited to get in and see if we can be the best in class at it. And I want to get back to my school.”

The Pitt-driven collective has made some major strides in recent weeks. The collective launched Oakland Originals with Jordon Rooney‘s Jaster marketing firm, a place where athletes can build out their brands. Wiz Khalifa and Chevy Woods released a song promoting the collective’s NIL efforts earlier this month, too.

Before the start of football season, Alliance 412 signed a seven-figure, team-wide NIL deal with the 85 scholarship players on the Panthers’ team. Well-known Pitt booster and Alliance 412 founder Chris Bickell led the financial campaign for the team-wide deal.

Out of the NFL, Whaley is now the XFL vice president for player personnel. His role with the Pitt-driven collective won’t intersect with his full-time job – the XFL season begins in February. As he explained it, his main job is to establish policies and procedures to ensure the league stays competitively balanced.

“Doug’s level of experience will provide Alliance 412 and our student-athletes a resource that is unparalleled in today’s NIL landscape,” Alliance 412’s chief investment officer John Pelusi told On3. “He is a Pitt man through and through, and we are beyond excited to have him join our team. Doug’s background aligns perfectly with our mission of making sure that the University of Pittsburgh remains a top destination for student-athletes.”

Doug Whaley breaks down how he sees college game

Since the NIL Era began in the summer of 2021, collectives have surfaced across the NCAA landscape with more than 200 now in existence. At the FBS level specifically, donor-driven organizations are essential in retaining and attracting top talent.

Whaley’s move to join the Pitt-driven collective is just another example of the professionalization of collectives. More and more collectives are developing resources to run similar to a front office.

Obviously, Whaley will now have to reacquaint himself with the college game and world of NIL. From his perspective, the college game differentiates from the NFL game significantly because of how athletes can completely change a team’s trajectory. At the college level, teams can make up for a struggling offensive line by having athletes at skill positions.

But no matter the level, even Pop Warner he joked, quarterback will always be the most valuable position. As Whaley said, “It’s a hard way to make a living” if you don’t have a star at quarterback.

“After quarterback, I would probably say the way the college game is going now, it’s more athletes in space,” the former NFL general manager said. “So it’s a very spacial game now. I think that’s what they’re trying to do. In the college game, if you have athletes, you can systematically make up for the lack of a good offensive line. Just the quick game, extended hand-offs and also get those guys in space. So, I would say college game is more athletes and pro maybe lean toward maybe the interior.

“And on defense, in college, you obviously want to get those guys out there on the corner. But some teams you know, this is all coach philosophy driven, would you rather have a pass rusher or an extra corner.”