Florida announces Nick Polk, Benjamin Elsner for front-office roles

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida announced the hirings of Nick Polk and Benjamin Elsner to the program’s front office. Polk will serve as Associate Athletic Director/Football General Manager, while Elsner was named the team’s Director of Football Strategy.

Gators Online reported early Monday that Polk, the former Atlanta Falcons director of football operations, had emerged as the favorite to land Florida’s lead front-office position.

Polk will oversee the front office for the Gators and be responsible for revenue share and NIL allocation, student-athlete contract negotiations, football budgets, roster management and work with football personnel. 

“We are excited about moving forward with building out the front office concept with the addition of Nick Polk,” UF head coach Billy Napier said. “His leadership and experience will prove to be extremely valuable to the entire organization. Nick has a college football coaching background, as well as extensive NFL experience to go along with representing a number of clients that are in college football and the NFL. This is a huge step forward for the Gators.”

Polk was with the Atlanta Falcons for 17 seasons. He worked directly with general manager Thomas Dimitroff, spending five seasons as director of football administration before being promoted by Dimitroff to director of football operations.

He was responsible for salary cap management, including draft negotiations, contract proposals, player contracts, coaches’ contracts, trades and trade value analysis, CBA Compliance, football budgets, League liaison, daily cap monitoring and strategy.

“I am honored and privileged to have this incredible opportunity to be named Associate Athletic Director/Football General Manager for the Florida Gators,” Polk said. “I’d like to give a special thank you to Scott Stricklin and Coach Napier for their trust in my abilities to take on this new role. Every successful program has alignment with its leadership and it was evident throughout this process that this is the case here. I am excited to work daily with this football program’s great administrators, coaches, players and staff to build a championship program.”

Nick Polk, who lives in Gainesville, Fla., has most recently worked with the sports agency Athletes First, where he served as an advisor, contract negotiator, search firm relations and professional development with players and coaches.

Polk brings 13 seasons of college coaching experience, including four years as the head coach at Lock Haven University. He also was a member of coaching staffs at Delaware State, Brown, James Madison and Southern Connecticut State.

Florida hires Director of Football Strategy

Gators Online first reported last Wednesday that Florida had hired Ben Elsner as Director of Football Strategy. He was announced Monday. Elsner will have the No. 2 lead role in UF’s front office behind Polk.

Elsner will assist Polk with managing the salary cap and contracts, but will also lead the program’s efforts in analytics and A.I. for all parts of the program. 

“Ben Elsner is one of the bright, up-and-comers in our profession and has unique and valuable experience in his early career,” Napier said. “He will be working alongside Nick in the salary cap and contract space. He will also help us use analytics and A.I. to evaluate all the data relative to strategy throughout the organization. He will be working closely with me to make sure we are continuing to evolve and are using the best practices throughout our program at all levels.”

Elsner has served as the chief of staff for The 33rd Team, a football analysis platform that provides in-depth insights on NFL teams and players, for nearly five years.

Elsner worked closely over the past two years with former executives and team presidents gaining insight on successful, sustainable and efficient team building philosophies.

“I am honored and excited to join the Florida Gators as the Director of Football Strategy,” Elsner said. “I want to thank Coach Napier for believing in me for this role, along with those at The 33rd Team who allowed me to grow and learn over the past five years. Throughout this process, I have been immensely impressed by the vision Coach Napier has set for the program and the alignment of the staff. I am excited to work with the coaches, players and staff to build a sustainable championship caliber program, on and off the field.”