Purdue GM Lee a key architect

Brandon Lee is back home in Indiana. And the Purdue general manager could not be happier.

“I have over 100 cousins in Indianapolis,” said the Indianapolis native. “(My family) was excited I could be accessible again, mom, dad.”

Lee is the Boilermakers’ freshly minted GM, settling into the position in December following a brief stint at Mississippi State as associate athletic director for student-athlete brand strategy and innovation. Lee’s career also has taken him to Missouri, Colorado State and Notre Dame. Now, the former Mizzou linebacker is in West Lafayette, helping build the roster for Barry Odom.

“That’s my guy,” said Lee. “He is my former head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. So, I think that speaks to our bond.

“I’ve seen Purdue growing up, was recruited by Purdue, and know a fair amount of people who have worked here over the years, been to games and whatnot, and have always kept up. An hour away from home, it was a great opportunity to be back around some family and then the Big Ten.”

Coming out of Lawrence North High in 20214, Lee was recruited by Purdue. The assistant that wooed him? Marcus Freeman, the linebackers coach for Darrell Hazell.

Lee would sign with Missouri under Gary Pinkel. Odom began as Lee’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach before becoming MU head coach in 2016.

“I had a lot of options, and at the time, it just didn’t seem like the best fit for me,” said Lee. “That doesn’t take anything away from Purdue. It all came full circle. I’m here now. So, I think that’s a testament to what I truly do think about Purdue.”

Get to know the new G.M.

Q: What is your role?
A: My role specifically is working with agents, contracts, negotiations, forward thinking with administration, and trying to map out and strategically put us in a position to succeed against our competitors. Recruiting personnel, managing our roster, kind of a Swiss army knife, but more so on dealing with the agents, contracts, negotiations, personnel, roster management. And then the subsidiary pieces is the fundraising, those types of things, spokesperson-type of deals.

Q: Take us through the process of procuring a player through the portal.
A: We evaluate all guys that we think are prospects. And then throughout that process, we evaluate and see if they can fill a void for us in our roster, or if they can just make our roster better, enhance it, if there’s a void …

Coaches, our scouts, myself, we all come to an agreement that that guy can help us. And then from there, it’s figuring out the point of contact. Some have their direct contact on social platforms or in certain databases where we can directly contact the student-athlete who’s in the portal. Some have their former coaches, they have their agent, they have whoever. And once we get in contact, we try to get them on campus so that we can see them for face value, and then just kind of take them through the process. Is Purdue the right place for them, and are they the right person for us? We meet during that visit. Sometimes, we don’t necessarily get a visit, but we try to get them on campus to have that meeting in person.

Q: How would Barry Odom describe you as a player?
A: He would describe me as very cerebral, leader by example, hard working and tough. Pretty much what he goes by here: hard, smart and tough. That’s what he would describe me as.

Q: Do you just crunch numbers and decide who gets paid what, or do you also evaluate talent?
A: I am dealing with the money and managing the rev share cap. But then also identifying players. It’s a team effort, everybody’s doing it. We’ve got our scouting department and recruiting department obviously hammering it. But then coaches are getting notified. Agents are notifying me. We’re following on social platforms and whatnot of seeing guys that are entering the portal and checking out their film non-stop. So, we’re bringing players to each other.

Q: What are some of the challenges of the upcoming revenue share era?
A: I think we’re in a great position. We’re gonna compete at the highest level, and that’s coming from top down. It’s not just me saying it. Our athletic director, Mike Bobinski, is providing us a great opportunity to compete at the highest level. We’re maxing out the number that we have been given to compete. I think the challenges that come with it are like anything new, kind of walking into a room that’s dark, nobody’s really been in that space and knows the unknowns just yet. I think there’s some scheduling and guardrails that will happen, and definitely need to happen. They will happen in the near future and I think will start to shape it a little bit more.

Q: What are those guardrails?
A: I think just the changing of the transfer portal windows, making them align a little bit more with the season, and making them make a little bit more sense.

Q: Where do you see the portal window moving to?
A: I think condensing it down to one portal window would make a lot of sense, versus having two. You could sign a guy in the portal in January, and that same guy could leave in April right now. It’s very, very player-friendly. But I think there should be a balance between the institutions and it being player-friendly, as well.

Q: Where you see all this in five or 10 years? Will we have a players union? Collective bargaining?
A: I think all of those are to come. I think the rev share is here to stay. I think especially with the roster cuts that are going to happen now, because it’s going from you can have as many guys as you want on your roster down to 105. That’s gonna ruffle a lot of feathers.

There’s already a lot of guys that enter the portal and don’t have a home. They can’t find a home. They test their luck. Some forfeit their scholarships they currently have, and test their luck. Sometimes everything is perfect. Some not so much. They end up at an institution and then the portal again in the next cycle. Or they could get cut from that team. And then when you get cut, what do you do? Then you just kind of finish school, stay in shape, and then try to join another team later on. I think those type of things will (bring a) players association. I see it definitely continuing to gravitate towards a pro model, and that’s the way that we’re operating here, as if we’re a pro organization.

Q: Will we get to where players sign multi-year contracts to prevent this annual churn?
A: Some are already doing so. Not here. We haven’t done a multi-year contract just yet, but some schools have. We’ve been doing it year-by-year.

Q: Will that change at Purdue?
A: Yes. I think it will. It’s just so much gray area right now that I don’t know how soon it will change, but I believe that it will.

Q: What is the role of assistant G.M. Ethan Baxter?
A: Ethan is in on every meeting with me. We’re working in lockstep with each other, hand-in-hand, through everything. So, from a numbers perspective, we’re watching film together. We just broke out some film this morning, looking at a couple prospects that are currently in the portal this morning. When we’re sitting down with players, he and I are both in there, and it’s kind of like a two-man attack. He loves football more than some guys who played it.

Q: What is your goal? To be an NFL GM?
A: Obviously hard work has helped. My faith has helped a ton, but I think also NIL and the rapid pace that it’s moving, that’s kind of helped fast track my career a little bit, as well. Where does it go long term? I don’t know. I think the horizon is open, sky’s the limit. But, right now, I’m focused on where I’m at. Set a goal for myself some years back to really try to be present and focus on where I’m at and let the rest take care of itself. So, my focus is here at Purdue.

Q: How does the Boilermaker Alliance help you?
A: The Boilermaker Alliance has been tremendous these past two and a half months. They’ve been extremely helpful in getting this done. And a few names throughout the process (that have been helpful) specifically are Mark Carney, Dave Neff, Madison Allgood, and there’s a ton more on the board, and they’re working in supportive roles with them. But those three have been tremendous for us, from fundraising to processing of payments, those types of things with the student-athletes helping us get those guys signed, those 40 guys that we signed last recruiting period. They’ve been tremendous.

Q: Will schools with the best collectives be the ones with the advantage?
A: There are some plans in the works, folks that supersede what I do, that will try to put some guardrails and work around that, where it’s not just who has the most money. And the whole reason for a cap is to try to make it an even playing ground. It won’t be the rich get richer anymore, or whoever has the most money will win out. It will take more strategy which I think is the importance of the GM role, and why so many institutions and so many organizations are starting to get a GM and build out that department of their football program or basketball programs, as well. Those guardrails will come sooner than later, and I think they’re being ironed out right now. And when they do, they won’t be perfect, but it will start to shape what we want this to be moving forward.

Q: Do you have a pie chart that tells you how much money to devote to each position?
A: We’ve got that all mapped out in spreadsheets for what our plans are. I know that we have an idea of what exactly we want to do in that aspect now. But I think after a full year, or at least after this spring, we’ll have a better idea.

As far as the percentages of what we want to spend at each position, to how we want to build out our team … I think a lot of pro organizations, they do the same. And it shows. You look at certain NFL teams and those that succeeded versus those that didn’t.

Q: How much activity could Purdue have in the spring portal window? Could you add 20 players?
A: Potentially, yes. We’re looking at it. And some may say, “Man, how can you get all those guys?” That’d be 60 guys potentially, over half of a new team with the 105 roster. I think it takes an incredible leader in which we have in Coach Odom, that they can lead men. And I think, yes, it is a challenge getting a ton of new guys that don’t necessarily have that bond with each other, but it can be built through practice habits, from top down, from your head coach, and it trickles down to your position coaches. It trickles down to Ethan and I and into the locker room and whatnot. And I think that if you look around the country, those that attack the portal really hard, sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t, but it always helps when you have a tremendous leader of men that can help them jell and bond together.