The Commodores have named former football star Earl Bennett to the position, which is designed to help empower the school’s 17 varsity sports to succeed in a new era for college sports.Bennett will focus on the departmental strategy for cap management and anticipated revenue sharing, while supporting each sport program’s efforts in areas such as […]
The Commodores have named former football star Earl Bennett to the position, which is designed to help empower the school’s 17 varsity sports to succeed in a new era for college sports.Bennett will focus on the departmental strategy for cap management and anticipated revenue sharing, while supporting each sport program’s efforts in areas such as roster management, recruiting, contract negotiations and student-athlete resources.Bennett had previously served as Vandy’s senior associate athletic director for strategy and business operations.Dozens of schools have followed suit since then, with some colleges adding general managers for both football and basketball.In a sign of the times in college sports, Vanderbilt now has its first executive general manager of athletics.Bennett is a two-time Vanderbilt graduate, as he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the school in 2015 and 2018, respectively. He later gained his Ph.D.degree in higher education leadership and policy studies at the University of Houston.“As we navigate the evolving landscape of college athletics, our department’s mission is to rethink our model and structure to better support the complexities of the future while prioritizing our student-athletes,” Bennett said in the release.Just last week, North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis announced plans to hire a basketball general manager, following the recent addition of football general manager Mike Lombardi to aid coach Bill Belichick.“Earl Bennett’s experience and expertise uniquely qualify him for this vital new role,” Vanderbilt Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee said in a release. “As we continue investing in our student-athletes with championship-level resources, we see the fruits of our labor, but our work is far from done. We will be relentless in our pursuit of excellence.”“There’s just so much stuff out there. I’ve mentioned: owner, GM, fundraiser, basketball coach. It’s so much on the plate that will take you away from doing what the most important thing is, coaching basketball. So yes, we’re going to hire a GM. We need a director of marketing and fundraising for NIL, for program needs.”On the football field, Bennett earned All-SEC honors three times in his three seasons (2005-07) and became the conference’s all-time leader in career receptions with 236. Bennett was selected in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft and played six seasons with the Chicago Bears.“I am grateful to Dr. Candice Lee for her leadership and for giving me the opportunity to enhance the experience and development of our student-athletes, ensuring their continued success both on and off the playing field.”In his new role, Bennett will serve on the executive leadership team within the athletic department, and he will be responsible for the overall direction and supervision of the department’s new roster and finance division.“”I am going to increase the staff, and it’s needed,” Davis said, via the Associated Press. “I never would’ve thought in the four years that I took the job that I’m 100 percent [on] what is needed is a general manager.Alabama, for example, gave General Manager Courtney Morgan a precedent-setting contract last August. His 5,000 annual salary was believed to make him college football’s highest-paid front office figure, per ESPN.One of the first hirings occurred in June, 2022, when Duke added Rachel Baker — who had previously worked at Nike and in the NBA — as its general manager, with a focus on NIL opportunities for Blue Devils players.More and more colleges have hired general managers over the past couple years as schools try to get a handle on newer developments like name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities and the transfer portal.Before becoming Vandy’s senior associate athletic director, he served as the school’s football director of player development and executive director of player development and administration.
