Gophers post job opening for GM-like role, a new development in NIL era

The college sports landscape is changing frequently. Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle seems ready to change with it after a recent job posting in the department.

A full-time position currently open in Gophers athletics is called: “House settlement negotiator, quantitative analysis and contract manager.”

This sounds similar to the role Coyle was considering this summer to help with name, image and likeness (NIL) developments and coming revenue sharing. He compared it to a general manager in pro sports.

“If a professional team misses on a player, it really impacts their cap for future years,” Coyle told the Star Tribune in August. “And so, we’re going to have to start to think that way. We’ve looked at, do we need to bring somebody in that can help us manage those caps? Is it different people for different sports?”

In May, NCAA and power conference leaders agreed to a combined $2.8 billion settlement to pay current and former athletes damages for not being able to capitalize on their name, image and likeness.

A big part of that settlement included a plan for Division I schools to share revenue with athletes, which Coyle stated earlier would likely be an annual figure of about $21 million or $22 million, starting in the 2025-26 school year.

“You have to have somebody who’s going to manage that cap for you at the same time,” Coyle said in August. “And then, more importantly, we want to be very strategic and analytical when we assign those dollar values, when we make those commitments to those kids where we’re different than the professional level.”

The Gophers’ new hire will join the administrative team that rolls out the House settlement revenue sharing plan for five sports programs — football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and men’s hockey.

The new hire would also work with a “cap manager” and negotiate revenue sharing contracts with prospective athletes and their families for specifically women’s basketball, volleyball and men’s hockey.

In August, Coyle alluded to what the job post now says about the biggest responsibility of the new staff member: assisting and creating a database for coaches on athlete value and revenue sharing over time.

“If we bring [players in] and we’re doing revenue sharing, how do we know we’re getting our value right, and what are the metrics?” Coyle said. “It’s not just how many baskets do they make. Are you going to class? Are you going to graduate? Those things all come into play too. Those are things we ought to measure.”