Deep Dive: Here's Why College Head Coaches Are Losing Power
Stanford and Oklahoma made interesting General Manager hires. Will they be the new bosses in modern college football?
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The video dissects how the traditional power of college head coaches is diminishing due to the emergence of new administrative structures, notably the rise of the General Manager (GM) role.
Once referred to as Directors of Player Personnel, the GM position gained prominence when Nick Saban institutionalized this role to streamline recruitment and roster management. Urban Meyer quickly followed suit, influencing schools like Florida and Texas.
In the NFL, GMs typically outrank head coaches. This hierarchy is gradually infiltrating college programs where head coaches, once the undisputed leaders, now report to or share power with GMs or even external consultants.
Andrew Luck, the former NFL QB, now essentially governs Stanford football. He holds unprecedented power—overseeing personnel, NIL (name, image, likeness) initiatives, and even fundraising—reporting directly to the university president, bypassing the athletic director entirely.
Oklahoma adopted a similar model, installing Jim Nagy as GM. He reports to both the athletic director and an external overseer, Randall Stephenson, not the head coach. The shift departs from Brent Venables’ prior approach, curbing aggressive early recruiting in favor of more strategic evaluations.
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Coaches are increasingly overloaded with duties like managing transfers, NIL deals, and roster churn. Some may welcome the reduced scope, focusing on coaching alone. However, this trend can alienate visionary head coaches who value complete control.
Schools like Oklahoma might struggle to attract elite coaches unwilling to cede authority. The balance of power within programs could dictate their competitiveness in the evolving college football ecosystem.
Programs like Stanford and Oklahoma are becoming testbeds for a new governance model. The video posits that such structural experiments will shape the competitive landscape of college football for decades.
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