Today’s guest columnists are the teachers John Cairney and Rick Burton.
In the past 12 months, something big has changed in American academic athletics – and not only because of the Home Rules.
In fact, nothing less than a seismic change takes place in the substratumality Ncaa Institutions.
No, not athletes of the Millionaire College who rake the endorsements and take advantage of their free agency without restriction. We are talking about university presidents who hire sophisticated sales experts to struggle with fundraising that will allow their schools to keep pace in a quick arms race
It was a relative rarity when Notre Dame brought Jack Swarbrick (a experienced lawyer and influencer of the sport industry), Michigan typed Dave Brandon (former CEO of Dominoes) or Syracuse brought back the former and former executive of Espn John Wildhack to manage their intercollegied ecosystems of several million dollars.
These hires appeared as aberrant values in a system where sports directors headed for the grandes écoles by winning their stripes in D-II, D-III and Mid-Majors. This model may not work in power four longer.
Increasingly, universities reach beyond traditional paths and are turning to professional sports for roles that have long been held by the administrators of Career College. Jim Smith (ex-braves and Falcons) in Maryland, Andrew Luck (NFL alum) in Stanford, and Pete Bevacqua (NBC Sports) at Notre Dame Show, there was a clear change towards professional mastery.
The skills necessary to lead in this space are no longer found only in the NCAA system.
These are not only splashing hires. They represent a recalibration of what business leadership looks like in university sport.
Sports managers have always juggled multiple responsibilities: managing budgets, supervising compliance, managing delicate media situations and supporting development and diploma rates for NCAA students.
In 2024, requests changed.
Today’s announcement must cross complexity. Consider the sound cities: the Home trial regulation. Title IX. Nile free agent offers and agreements. Athlete brand. Mental health support. Negotiations on the rights of the conference media. Maintenance of installations or new construction. Imminent legal battles on income sharing.
The work now resembles that of a CEO of Pro Sports – with additional strata of deactivation academic mission, public control of the public and government surveillance.
This means that universities are not content to hire managers who could previously drive or managed programs in small schools. Today’s main players hire agents of change.
The short version of what the sports director of each Power Four (the more the courageous Big East) faces is as follows: they have already done so – on a scale, under pressure and under a projector without insurer. But here is the longer version.
Contemporary sports directors must provide ready -to -use relationships – with sponsors, broadcasters, leagues and investors. This network is an asset generating income from the first day, especially since universities are looking for new media partners and business sponsorship opportunities.
Managing a sports department from 125 to 300 million dollars is not far from managing an MLB team with a dedicated agricultural system and screening all year round. The great leaders of the Pro League know how to allocate capital, build infrastructure, manage risks, mitigate proceedings and provide operational results. They led teams through expansion. Or stages built. Negotiated names in matters of denomination. Or scale operations for the national public.
When the scandal strikes (a common reality in pro and collegial sports), the reputation established is at stake. Veteran administrators have managed the misconduct of the players, labor disputes, agent’s requests and public relations battles with high issues. This type of experience is increasingly precious in university environments dealing with zero collectives, current proceedings and public changes in public expectations of what university sports represent. The difference, to be fair, is that college athletics often involves more than 20 different teams and parents worthy of cringing teeth trying to protect or defend their newly struck heirs.
Pro Sport GMS and CEOs are experiencing highly efficient environments for elite athletes commanding important pay checks. In the pros, the league and the team leaders Understand how to direct various compliant and designed teams and how to create an alignment around shared objectives. They know how to invest in sports sciences, data and culture to stimulate sustainable success.
High -level university sport is already a professional sport, which means that the new order is to be a content engine and an emotional point of contact. University advertisements must tell their stories and position their programs as competitive brands on the saturated markets of sports entertainment.
Someone’s hiring, MLB or PGA is not only a choice – is a declaration. He indicates that the President or Chancellor of the University considers athletics as a strategic asset. He indicates to donors, fans and recruits: we are serious about victory – on the field and in the conference room.
It also clearly indicates that a diploma (the picturesque ADD academic value) is no longer the main argument for the sale of recruits. The academic heritage is great (like landscaped campuses), but as Barrett Strong sang, the new chorus is: “Give me money (that’s what I want). Oh, a lot of money (that’s what I want).”
It is more than a hiring trend – it is a structural change. The old guard of experts in compliance, internal lectures and experienced initiates of the NCAA still count. But they are now part of a wider leadership mixture which must also include leaders and visual storytellers.
Nile and the transfer portal (not to mention the current disputes) made university athletics a professional business. The antitrust regulations of $ 2.8 billion NCAA, now finalized, erases the border between amateur sport and professional sport by allowing schools to directly compensate athletes. What was once a touch is now a battlefield for media rights, legal reform and market influence.
Universities include this change in tectonic plates, and most of them adapt accordingly by recruiting enough leadership to sail in ambiguity, build a business value and balance very examined performance with mission.
New sports directors will not only manage a collection of intercollegia teams. They will shape the next era of the industry.
John Cairney is at the head of the Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Queensland. He is also deputy executive director of the 2032 Games engagement office and director of Queensland Center for Olympic and Paralympic Studies. Rick Burton is the sports professor David B. Falk Emeritus at the University of Syracuse, consultant for XV and Endava as well as co-author of The rise of Major League Soccer (Lyons Press, 2025).