Gophers AD Mark Coyle says department might need a GM role to oversee ‘cap management’

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle has just about seen it all during his eight years leading the department, but what’s on the horizon in college athletics with revenue sharing isn’t something he’s ready to handle — yet.

Coyle shares the plight of his peers trying to figure out exactly how to annually distribute about $21 million of the department’s budget to athletes, starting with the 2025-26 school year.

That figure has been roughly determined since the NCAA and power conference leaders agreed in May to a $2.8 billion settlement to pay current and former athletes damages, including lost NIL opportunities.

In an interview Friday with the Star Tribune, Coyle talked about the challenges ahead for the Gophers, figuring out which athletes get the most NIL and shared revenue — perhaps too much responsibility for the AD and head coaches alone.

Coyle said the Gophers need to have “cap management.”

“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?” he said.

A new role — similar to a general manager in pro sports — could be required in the near future. Coyle talked about that potential job and other topics in this latest Q&A.

Q: When you think of GMs in pro sports, it’s in large part about hiring coaches, but how would that be different in the college model?

A: If it’s at $21 million to $22 million [annual shared revenue], you have to have somebody who’s going to manage that cap for you at the same time.

If a professional team misses on a player, it really impacts their cap for future years. 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?

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. It’s not just how many baskets do they make, right. Are you going to class? Are you going to graduate? Those things all come into play too. Those are things we ought to measure.

Q: Is it pretty clear cut that football players will gobble up the most shared revenue?

A: I have conversations with other programs, and at the end of the day, finances play a big, big part in what we do. … Football is 90 percent of that. And so, we are very, very wise that we continue to invest in football to help that program grow. All 22 sports are important to us, and if we have success in football, men’s basketball, men’s hockey, that allows us to help all those other programs.

Q: When it comes to finding money for the department, are you ruling out sports cuts? The Gophers cut men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and men’s indoor track and field in 2020.

A: We’re looking at everything, but I think with the decision we made, the recommendation we made, that the board approved, I feel like we’re in a really good spot right now in terms of our sport offerings [22 sports programs]. And I feel like we’re in a good spot with the Big Ten with the sports we offer.

… I made some of our coaches really nervous because I said we have to look at everything we’re doing in terms of recruiting, travel, budgets, nutrition, how we do all those types of things. It’s going to look different for Minnesota. It’s going to look different for Ohio State, etc.

Q: How will the Olympic sports be impacted with the proposed scholarship changes?

A: We will talk to our coaches, and especially our Olympic coaches, [more] about the settlement and the potential revenue share when that all gets finalized. I do think when we made the difficult recommendation four years ago, that our board approved, to eliminate those three sports programs — that’s put Minnesota in a really good position with these new roster limits that have come out in the settlement.

Q: Are you still looking into renovations to Williams Arena with revenue sharing added to the budget?

A: We’re not tearing down Williams right now. We still need to gather information. Obviously, I have a brand new president. I want to make sure we have conversations with President [Rebecca] Cunningham because we have to be in alignment with her. … If you talk to [women’s hoops coach Dawn Plitzuweit and men’s coach Ben Johnson], it’s a great place. I do think there’s things we can do to make the experience better for our fans and for our student-athletes. But with the revenue share, we’ve got to focus on some other things first.