The rise of the college sports GM: As the game goes professional, only the head coach may have more power

At 25, James Blanchard thought he had it made. With a growing family living near the Texas Gulf Coast, he was making six figures. On the side, Blanchard had carved out enough time to pursue his passion, scouting high school players in the state. 

One problem: The day job wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Blanchard wasn’t fulfilled. That job was building fire hydrants.

“Literally putting together fire hydrants,” Blanchard told CBS Sports. “From the bare bones of painting them, putting the brass in them, nuts and bolts, tighten them down — 10- to 12-hour days with your hands coming home with cuts and calluses on you.

“For years I was thinking, ‘We’ve got to be running a Ponzi scheme. Where are all these fire hydrants going? We would build 150 fire hydrants a day. I’m like, ‘Guys, the math isn’t adding up.'”

The day job served a purpose, but only in a bottom-line way to feed his family. Those player evaluation skills — with all the variables to challenge him — eventually landed Blanchard in the front row with the most desired college job this side of rush chairman.

When Baylor linebackers coach Joey McGuire was hired as Texas Tech’s 16th head coach in November 2021, he was accompanied on the private plane by one staffer on the trip to Lubbock. McGuire would have it no other way. James Ke’L Blanchard, now 34, just completed his third season as Texas Tech’s general manager of the football program.

The GM title in some programs is now second in importance only to the head coach. They are part banker, part financier, part human resources, part negotiator, part coach, part salary capologist — sometimes all those things at once.

Here’s how it happened.

The evolution

A Stanford legend, Andrew Luck is the new big boss of Cardinal…


Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/the-rise-of-the-college-sports-gm-as-the-game-goes-professional-only-the-head-coach-may-have-more-power/

Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2024-12-20 16:33:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.