Brigham Young University’s athletics department is undergoing a fundamental restructuring, a shift that isolates football from the rest of the program and reflects the growing complexity of the athletic director’s role over the last two decades.
The overhaul is part of a larger movement across college sports, where schools are borrowing structures from professional leagues to manage an increasingly volatile environment.
Professional‑style hierarchies take root in college athletics
At Stanford, a former global chief executive of Nike and PayPal now leads the athletic program, applying corporate expertise to reorganize departments in a manner reminiscent of BYU’s new approach.
The University of South Florida has taken the model a step further, appointing a business leader as athletic director, elevating the role to chief executive, and adding a chief operating officer—former NBA star Derrick Brooks—alongside a chief business officer to oversee public‑private partnerships and commercial operations.
The rise of the general manager in college sports
Similarly, the University of Utah has created a separate corporate front office headed by a commercial chief executive, tasked with handling licensing, ticket sales, branding and multimedia revenue.
These changes have also brought the role of a general manager into collegiate competition, a position that coordinates player personnel, scouting and roster decisions, echoing the front‑office structures long familiar in the NFL and NBA.
The article underscores that traditional athletic department frameworks are no longer sufficient in today’s chaotic sports landscape, prompting institutions to adopt more sophisticated, business‑oriented models.