As rev-share era approaches, Penn State Athletics adds staff to key department

In early February, as the likelihood of the revenue-sharing era in college athletics starting in July increased, Penn State athletics issued a job posting seeking an Assistant Director of Strategy and Analytics. The chosen candidate would help with a variety of tasks, including but not limited to:

–Analyzing and optimizing “scholarship allocations, revenue-sharing commitments, and athlete marketing agreements”;

–“Collaborate closely with program coaches to establish and oversee annual scholarship budgets and allocations”

–“Forecast future recruiting class needs and offer strategic recommendations to enhance athlete compensation resources”.

It wouldn’t be long before Nittany Lions athletic director Pat Kraft, without naming the position specifically, would discuss why it was needed.

“We’re hiring more data analytics folks in the office because we’ve got to,” Kraft said in late February. “I have to manage the entire 20.5 [million] and the fair market value NIL. We’ve got to make sure that we’re all aligned because you have to balance all of these things to make sure that you’re doing the right thing. So, it’s really [about] data now for us. Some would argue that would be a GM [job]. It’s not. It’s more of a data job.”

“But I honestly think we’re going to have to find a space for all of our Olympic sports to have someone that’s helping them manage the different areas because this is now going all the way down. I mean, it’s coming into hockey. It’s everywhere. And so, trying to give our coaches across the board the resources and help is going to be an issue.”

The data is needed now more than ever, as the House vs. NCAA settlement that was approved last Friday means the rev-share era and all that comes with it starts on July 1.

More: Penn State AD Pat Kraft welcomes House settlement, announces program’s intentions

As Kraft said in his open letter linked above, Penn State will spend the maximum amount it can. That max is $20.5 million. How it will all be allocated by sport is unclear, beyond the obvious reality that football will receive a larger share of the pie than any other sport. But, how the rest of the slices will be divvied up will be informed in part by the work of the athletic department’s two Assistant Directors of Strategy and Analytics: Penn State alum Brendan Tribeck and former football program intern and Boston College alum Will Semmer.

They are the only members of a two-person strategy and analytics department in the athletics’ online staff directory. Tribeck was solo in it when it first appeared in February. He previously served as both a football recruiting intern, among other jobs, at the university following his graduation in 2023. The latter joined the department’s online directory this week. His LinkedIn offers intel on what the pair will do for Kraft and co., moving forward. Semmer writes that he will “Work alongside various departments within intercollegiate athletics to financially oversee scholarship funding, NIL opportunities, and revenue-share cap structures.”

More: Lions pushing toward Top 10 class, impress elite recruits in Happy Valley over weekend

It’s the kind of data work Kraft mentioned months ago. And now, it is time to put people in place to assist with gathering, analyzing, and optimizing it. Tribeck and Semmer will do just that. And, on the football side of things, Lions letterman Aeneas Hawkins is part of the equation, as well. The program hired him as its Assistant Director of Player Advancement & Revenue Sharing Strategy earlier this year.

“We were able to bring back one of our former players, and he’s done a really good job of working in this area, and he was actually working as a as in a player rep, in terms of representing players as an agent, so he gives us a different perspective in that room as well,” James Franklin said of Hawkins earlier this year. “And I think that’s been valuable.

“But everybody’s kind of looking at this and trying to put together the best they can from a personnel department. And we’ve done the same thing.”

More hires could come in the future as the rev-share era sits less than a month away. But, for now, Penn State continues to put the pieces in place to hit the ground running once it officially kicks off on July 1.