Maryland hires GM....

[keithbooth22]

With NIL, portal exploding, Maryland hires former Terps star to be program's first general manager​

The explosion of NIL and the transfer portal have made college athletics more professionalized. With payrolls of up to $20 million beginning this year, college programs are increasingly hiring general managers to oversee their NIL spending, roster management and recruiting. Maryland has joined that movement.​

The explosion of NIL and the transfer portal have made college athletics more professionalized, and not just in theory. With revenue-sharing payrolls of up to $20 million beginning this year, college programs are increasingly hiring general managers to oversee their NIL spending, roster management and recruiting.

Maryland has joined that movement, hiring someone with deep roots inside the program to oversee those operations. The university is making former Terps receiver Geroy Simon as the program's first GM, a university source confirmed to Inside Maryland Sports.

The GM position is becoming a must-have for college programs, with head coaches hard-pressed to coach and manage their teams while also manage the constant turnstile of the transfer portal and how they spend money on players.

As 247Sports' Chris Hummer wrote earlier this season:

As college football transitions into a new era dominated by the transfer portal and the advent of name, image and likeness deals, the role of [directors of player personnel] and General Managers on college campuses has taken on a critical importance.
There is still the grinding of tape and the evaluation of prospects. But some department heads now oversee double-digit employees. There are operations staffers, on-campus recruiting personnel, scouts who plan ahead for the portal and, in some cases, consultants to help schools manage what is now a pseudo salary cap; whenever the House settlement is completed and revenue sharing comes to college football, programs will be responsible for allocating upwards of $15 million annually.

Simon, a star at Maryland in the 1990s who ranks second in school history in career receptions (185) and sixth in receiving yards (2,059), later became a star in the Canadian Football League before several front-office CFL jobs, including a stint as assistant GM on the Edmonton Elks.

It was reported earlier this week that Simon was set to take the GM job at Sacramento State, which has reportedly raised $50 million to fund a hopeful climb to Division I relevancy, but Damon Evans swooped in and snagged him to serve as GM for the university's athletic teams.

Simon, who landed on Inside Maryland Sports' all-1990s Maryland football team, holds the program record for receptions in a game, with 16 against Florida State in 1995. After college, he spent a season on the Pittsburgh Steelers' practice squad before heading to the CFL. He won multiple Grey Cups and won the Most Outstanding Player of the year award once on his way to a hall-of-fame career. He ranks first in league history in receiving yards (16.352), second in receptions (1,029) and fifth in touchdowns (104)

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[stump72]

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