Would KU basketball ever hire a general manager? Here’s what coach Bill Self said
In the ever-changing realm of college athletics, a newish position turns 3 years old this June.
It’s not exactly college basketball’s age of the general manager — not yet, anyway. GMs have long been staple positions in pro sports, but they’re far less commonplace for teams at the college level.
Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer in June 2022 hired Rachel Baker as the Blue Devils’ first general manager. She was the first GM in high-level college basketball.
Baker continues to assist in oversight of NIL opportunities (name, image and likeness) for players on the Blue Devils’ roster.
Duke isn’t the only team with a GM anymore. Other schools — Stanford and St. Bonaventure, to name a couple — have created similar positions aimed at implementing best-practice off-court management of their basketball programs.
Other coaches have considered adding GMs, including Kansas’ Bill Self — whose 17-9 Jayhawks (8-7 Big 12) have lost two straight ahead of Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10) at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I think that in today’s new time, I think you think about everything,” Self said. “Now, I will tell you this: You don’t hire somebody just to hire somebody or to fill a position.
“What role does somebody like that you really see being in your program. Could it be beneficial? Absolutely. Could it be detrimental? Absolutely. How much weight are you going to give to somebody to have that much influence when you may not trust that judgment on certain things?”
Self pointed out that even if a team hires a general manager, the head coach is still the “ultimate” general manager. A university with an opening for a head coach might hire a general manager first, but that person would still answer to somebody.
Self also noted a potential pitfall in hiring a general manager.
“Can a general manager handle (all this)?” he asked rhetorically. “We’re going to have one person deal with agents. One person on (the) salary cap and how you do that.
“Then, you get into Moneyball, which sounds great in theory, but this person shoots this percentage from the right wing and this percentage on effective field-goal percentage and this percentage raw shooting percentage … ‘Somebody that does that at this level is worth this much.’
“Well, what about the eye test? There’s a lot of things that go into it. Would it be a consideration? Absolutely. Have I thought about it? Absolutely.”
Self isn’t looking to hire a general manager, not at this point, anyway. But he made it clear that he’s always looking for help in raising money for the Jayhawks.
“I’m not going to say I am going to do that (hire a GM),” he said, “but I would say the biggest thing that they could probably do is be an elite fundraiser.
“If you can bring in dollars that you’re not presently bringing in, I would say that would be a great role that somebody could potentially have.”
