It’s a new trend around college basketball, should the Hoosiers join in?
As the college game has grown to resemble that of the NBA more with developments in NIL and transfer portal recruiting, some programs have leaned into the change by hiring a dedicated general manager.
Similar to the NBA, not all general managers are necessarily doing the same kind of work around college basketball. Some may assist in scouting or recruiting and some may have a level of authority over a head coach, not unlike the NBA model.
But the general framework and purpose of the job is pretty uniform. Running a program has always been complicated, but new rules have made it even more so particularly with international recruiting emerging as an even more viable option.
Head coaches, who’ve always been CEOs, can’t do all of the coaching, developing and scouting while handling personnel matters themselves. That doesn’t work at any level with few exceptions. There’s always been assistants and support staff to help alleviate that, but something more drastic could be deemed necessary.
After all, what’s the harm in having someone constantly working on recruiting and scouting without having to worry about game prep, especially around this time of year?
Now, how does all of this relate to Indiana?
Darian DeVries is going to be extremely busy in his first year between building what’s looking to be an entirely new roster and trying to get all those new players to mesh together ahead of the season. It’d be worth having someone whose sole focus is the program’s future in terms of talent.
He’ll have the resources to make that happen too. Mike Woodson was afforded one of the largest staff salary pools in the country in the past few seasons, the athletic department will be more than willing to work with DeVries to make something like this happen.
It’s easy to see what the vision would be too. A general manager would report to DeVries and spend the bulk of their time scouting prospects from high school, the transfer pool and international teams to see how they’d fit Indiana’s desired style of play
Other concerns could be setting players on a course for development, making sure their needs are met in the weight room, nutrition center and elsewhere and even NIL matters since that’s just how the college game works these days.
When it comes to hiring for the position, Indiana will have a fairly large array of candidates.
It’s no secret that the network of those who’ve spent time around the program or jumpstarted their career in Bloomington is vast. There’s plenty of former Indiana managers, staffers and even players in the NBA coaching and front office ranks or around college basketball itself.
Indiana has the benefit of its athletic director, Scott Dolson, being well-connected in that area as a former program manager himself. You can bet Dolson consulted that network to get thoughts and opinions during the lengthy coaching search that landed on DeVries, it’d be easy to see him leaning on it once again to help his new coach hire a general manager.
Should Indiana make such a hire? Yes, absolutely.
Time and again we’ve seen programs and organizations at all level of sport wither down or collapse because of a hesitance or outright refusal to see the way the game is changing and try to stay ahead of that curve. When programs refuse to innovate, the weight of their obstinance grinds success to a halt.
The best coaches and programs embrace that change wholeheartedly and even seek further innovation. It’s happened with analytics, traditional scouting and development styles and countless other areas.
If hiring a general manager is the newest wave in college basketball, Indiana owes it to itself and its future to not only do so but try and make their position and approach better than anyone else’s.