Andrew Luck returns to Stanford in expanded, ‘hands-on’ GM role: Is this the future of college football?

By Zak Keefer, Sam Khan Jr. and Lauren Merola

Former Stanford star quarterback Andrew Luck will return to the football program as general manager, the school announced Saturday. Happiness will begin immediately in his new role, the school said.

In the expanded GM position, Luck, 35, will oversee every aspect of the program, both on and off the field. He will work with coach Troy Taylor on recruiting and roster management and with administration on fundraising, alumni relations, sponsorships, student-athlete support and stadium experience, the school said.

Luck will also play a role in the cinema. When asked Saturday morning on “College GameDay” if he would lend a hand with the X’s and O’s, Luck said “absolutely,” while acknowledging that this is primarily Taylor’s domain. Luck said he and Taylor are “close,” and that he was on Stanford’s hiring committee when the school brought Taylor on board before the 2023 season.

“I imagine this (role) is very hands-on,” Luck said.

Ready to build the future of Stanford Football.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/0F8tTTOBPx

— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) November 30, 2024

While Luck assumes that the GM title itself is not unique, the scope of its power is.

According to ESPN, the entire coaching staff reports to Luck. If he has the final say on personnel decisions, it would be a major evolution in the way rosters are currently managed. In virtually every other FBS program, the head coach has the final say on who gets signed – and who doesn’t.

The only other program that has anything like an NFL model is Texas Tech, where head coach Joey McGuire allows his general manager James Blanchard to offer scholarships to recruits without his approval, and that department is charged with evaluating recruits and transfers. But McGuire still has the final say.

Many power conference programs invest significantly in scouting and personnel departments to manage both high school recruiting and the transfer portal, similar to the way NFL teams staff college (NFL Draft) and professional (free agency) scouting. Some general managers, such as Blanchard, Alabama’s Courtney Morgan, Ohio State’s Mark Pantoni and Clemson’s Jordan Sorrells, earn six-figure salaries. But that’s the exception, not the rule: most staff and recruiting staff below the GM earn five-figure salaries.

But GMs, colloquially known as directors of player personnel, have become an indispensable position for modern programs.

The role of GM in college football has come into vogue in recent years. With the launch of the transfer portal in 2018 and the increase in transfers since then, the shift to making transfers immediately eligible plus the addition of NIL compensation, roster management has become quite complex. Gone are the days when you simply had to sign 25 high school players per year. Now, most teams sign a mix of high school players and a double-digit number of transfers.

Luck’s role will also go well beyond simple roster management, although that is an important part of it. One aspect is unclear: How much influence will he have in hiring and firing decisions, now that the coaching staff reports to Luck? Will that remain the domain of the sports director and school president? If luck carries significant weight in these decisions, his role is more akin to that of an NFL GM.

Stanford’s decision to give Luck more power than any other college football GM could portend the future of the sport. Now that revenue sharing is in place through the House v. NCAA settlement, college football rosters can be managed the same way as NFL rosters: Payrolls will have to be managed. It only makes sense to evolve how players are acquired and teams are built.

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The Cardinal are arguably at the forefront of college football program management and hiring someone like Luck, a sharp mind with a deep football background and a passion for the school, is a logical first step.

“I am a product of this university, of Nerd Nation; I love this place,” Luck said in a statement. “I believe deeply in Stanford’s unique approach to athletics and academics and the opportunity to help return our program to the top. Coach Taylor has taken the team in the right direction and I can’t wait to work with him, the staff and the best, brightest and strongest players in the world.”

Stanford has always been Luck’s happy place. It’s where, in four years, he went from a nerdy, redshirt freshman to a two-time Heisman runner-up and arguably the best NFL prospect since John Elway. It’s where he met his wife Nicole as a college student, and where they settled with their two daughters in 2022 after moving from Indianapolis — where they lived for three years after he stunned the Indianapolis Colts and NFL with his retirement in August 2019.

Luck most recently volunteered as a quarterback coach at Palo Alto High School while earning his master’s degree in education from Stanford. There he obtained a bachelor’s degree in architectural design in 2012.

But Luck was already in the early days of his retirement looking for his next challenge, unsure of what lay ahead. He craves a challenge, and when he retired at such a young age (he was only 29 when he walked away from the NFL), he continued to wander. He surfed. He skied. He cooked. He read. For a time, he was a stay-at-home dad while Nicole pursued a career in television production. He sometimes joked with himself and said, “I can’t retire at 30. That’s not right.”

So joining the Stanford football program – and a unique one at that – suits him and his talents.

Along with Jim Plunkett and Elway, Luck is one of the greatest players in program history. In three years with the Cardinal, Luck completed a total of 67 percent of passes for 9,430 yards and 82 touchdowns against 22 interceptions. He added 957 yards and seven scores on the ground en route to a 2022 College Football Hall of Fame induction.

Now Lucks looks to re-establish dominance at Stanford after the program posted four straight 3-9 seasons.

“Football has given me a lot,” Luck said last spring. “The most important thing… the relationships and the experiences with people I love. Part of me feels like it’s my turn to give back to this game.”

Required reading

(Photo: David Madison/Getty Images)