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College Football's Front Office Revolution: The New Power Players You've Never Heard Of

The game has changed.

And I'm not talking about what's happening on the field.

While fans obsess over touchdowns and rankings, a quiet revolution is reshaping college football behind closed doors—one that involves NFL executives, sports agents, and consulting firms with six-figure contracts.

USA Today just pulled back the curtain on how schools are frantically restructuring their front offices to survive the NIL era. And honestly? Some of these setups sound more like Fortune 500 companies than college football programs.

Take Washington, for instance.

They don't technically have a "GM" on Jedd Fisch's staff. Instead, they've got Matt Doherty as Senior Director of Player Personnel. They brought in longtime sports agent Cameron Foster on a one-year, $150K deal to negotiate revenue-share agreements. And then—this is where it gets interesting—they hired The 33rd Team (founded by former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum) as outside consultants for another $155K.

Why? Because Fisch is now managing a budget "close to $15M or more" just for player compensation.

"We wanted to bring in somebody that had no real motives, nobody really connected to our program substantially," Fisch explained, "but also somebody that can help guide [us] in making some critical financial decisions."

Meanwhile, at Indiana, Curt Cignetti has a different philosophy entirely.

He's doing it all himself—GM and head coach.

"I'm a control freak. I'm organized, I'm good with numbers. My name is on this. I spent a lot of years getting to this point, I'm the best one to do it."

Two schools. Two completely opposite approaches to the same problem.

[Read the full story here] to see how the rest of college football is adapting—or failing to adapt—to this brave new world.

Andrew Luck Just Became the Most Powerful Person in College Football (And Nobody's Talking About It)

Forget everything you thought you knew about "GM" titles in college sports.

Because what Andrew Luck is doing at Stanford isn't just a new role—it's a complete reimagining of how college football programs can operate.

USA Today's Matt Hayes just dropped a deep dive on Luck's unprecedented level of authority at Stanford, and the scope of his power is frankly jaw-dropping.

We're talking about supreme control over football operations.

Player procurement? That's Luck.

Hiring and firing coaches? Also Luck.

Fundraising? Yep, Luck again.

Even working with campus partners to ensure "everyone on The Farm is aligned and on the same page"? You guessed it.

Stanford president Jonathan Levin gave Luck a mandate to "do what must be done at all levels of the program." And Luck wasted zero time exercising that authority—he's the one who made the call to fire Troy Taylor and bring on Frank Reich as Interim HC.

No other general manager in college football has that kind of power.

But here's what makes Luck's vision even more interesting:

"College football started changing and Stanford wasn't accepting it," Luck explained. "We're not only going to accept it, we're going to change the whole organizational structure."

His thesis? There's still a subset of elite high school and portal players who want both the academic experience and the ability to capitalize on their NIL. It's his job to find those players and convince them Stanford is the best investment in their future.

In other words: Stanford isn't trying to out-Alabama Alabama.

They're building something entirely different.

[Read the full story here] to see how Luck is rewriting the playbook—and whether his grand experiment will actually work.

College Rivalries Just Became Revenue Streams (And ADs Are Finally Admitting the Quiet Part Out Loud)

The Iron Bowl isn't just a game anymore.

It's a product. A package. A sponsorship opportunity with built-in brand loyalty and year-round engagement potential.

NIL Wire's Kyle Rowland just published a fascinating piece on how athletic departments are treating rivalries as marketable assets—and partnering with sponsors who are eager to capitalize on the passion these matchups generate.

Learfield EVP Shawn Hegan breaks down the appeal perfectly:

"For sponsors, rivalry games give them access to two fan bases, typically in their business footprint, with all-sport rivalry programs delivering a year-long conversation with fans. College rivalries often have unique, storied traditions that tie the fan bases together, and the sponsor brands can build on that passion to meet sponsor goals."

Translation? Rivalries aren't just emotional—they're scalable.

But here's where it gets really interesting.

Bowling Green AD Derek van der Merwe didn't mince words about where college sports currently stands:

"In college sports, we've been slow to fully onboard the necessity of the business part of what we have to do to survive. Now that we fully acknowledge the fact that this, whether it's revenue sharing or NIL deals, has now become so inherent in what we're trying to do to build programs, it's much more normalized."

He continued: "Today, given the expectations, the growth of expenses, the challenges associated with fully funding the operation, creativity and innovation are at a premium now. Any partner that's willing to step into this space to support it, we've accepted that."

And then came the kicker:

"We all acknowledge that we have to be creative, we have to be innovative. And if we're not going to do it, someone else will."

That's the reality now.

Athletic departments aren't just managing teams anymore—they're running full-scale media and marketing operations, desperately hunting for alternative revenue streams to keep pace with skyrocketing costs.

[Read the full breakdown here] to see how rivalries are being monetized—and what it means for the future of college sports as we know it.

And, of course, in case you missed them on Tuesday, here are this week’s Coaches Hot Seat Rankings of all 136 FBS Coaches.

THIS WEEK’S HOT SEAT GAME PREVIEWS

Michigan vs Michigan State Isn't A Rivalry Game—It's A Reminder That Mediocrity Beats Disaster Every Time

There's a moment in every rivalry when one team stops playing to win—and starts playing not to lose.

Saturday's Michigan vs Michigan State game has already crossed that threshold. This isn't a clash between two great programs. It's a 6-4 Michigan team that figured out how to stop embarrassing itself, facing a Michigan State squad that can't stop the bleeding.

The Wolverines aren't elite—they're just functional enough to beat bad teams.

Michigan Fans Aren't Celebrating—They're Tolerating

Sherrone Moore inherited a national championship roster and turned it into a program that wins ugly.

Justice Haynes, averaging 7.4 yards per carry, sounds impressive until you realize Michigan hasn't played a defense worth a damn since Week 4. They're functional. Not dominant.

That's the difference between contending and just surviving.

Michigan State? They're Drowning

The numbers tell the story:

• 13 points per game in their last four conference games

• 39.8 points allowed on average

• Three straight second halves with zero offensive rhythm

Jonathan Smith's rebuild takes time, but right now, the Mel Tucker mess he inherited looks worse, not better.

Saturday Won't Be Close—It Will Be Clinical

Michigan 30, Michigan State 13.

But don't mistake clinical for impressive. Michigan will win because they're playing a team that can't score, can't stop the run, and can't manufacture any reason to believe things will get better.

This isn't a rivalry game.

It's a reminder that competent isn't the same as contending—and that sometimes, being less bad is enough.

Read our Michigan vs Michigan State Preview.

Kentucky Has the SEC’s 9th-Toughest Schedule. Here’s Why They’re Still Getting Blown Out By Tennessee On Saturday.

Here's what you need to know about this matchup:

Kentucky is 2-4 this season. But their record is misleading. They've faced Georgia, Texas, and Ole Miss—all top-25 programs with elite defenses. They took Texas to overtime. They hung tough with Georgia for a half.

On paper, this team should give Tennessee problems.

But here's the issue.

Their offense can’t score.

The numbers tell the whole story:

• Kentucky averages 16.7 points per game against Top-50 defenses

• They convert just 39% of third downs

• They average 0.7 passing touchdowns per game (less than one)

• Against Power Five teams: 314 yards per game

Meanwhile, Tennessee averages 470 yards per game against Power Five opponents. They dropped 496 yards on Georgia and scored 41 points in an overtime loss. They run 75 plays per game—one of the fastest tempo offenses in the SEC.

What happens when these two teams meet?:

Kentucky's defense hangs tough for a half. They force field goals. They keep it close, maybe 17-10 at halftime. But by the third quarter, Tennessee's tempo wears them down. Kentucky's offense can't sustain drives. Their defense faces 70+ plays. And eventually, Tennessee's depth breaks through.

You can have the best defense in the world.

But if you can't score points, you can't win football games.

Kentucky will fight hard. But Tennessee's offensive firepower at 470 yards per game, 6.4 yards per play, and elite tempo is too much for an offense that can't keep pace.

Final Score: Tennessee 38, Kentucky 17

Read our Kentucky vs Tennessee preview here.

THAT’S A WRAP

THE BOTTOM LINE

Here's what you need to remember:

College football isn't just changing on the field—it's being completely rebuilt behind closed doors. Front offices now look like Fortune 500 companies. Rivalries are revenue streams. And the coaches who can't adapt to this new reality? They're getting left behind.

Michigan and Michigan State face off Saturday, but the real battle is in the patience their fan bases have left (spoiler: there isn't much). Kentucky travels to Tennessee with the SEC's 9th-toughest schedule and an offense that can't crack 17 points—while their fans are sharpening pitchforks for both Mark Stoops and the AD who gave him that massive buyout.

The games matter.

But the stories behind them matter more.

Because they tell us exactly where this sport is headed—and who's going to survive the journey.

Our next issue drops Tuesday with updated Coaches Hot Seat Rankings. We'll break down who's temperature is rising, who bought themselves another week, and who's one loss away from cleaning out their office.

See you Tuesday.