Andrew Luck as Stanford’s GM? What this means for the Cardinal and college football

The hiring of former Stanford and Indianapolis Colts star Andrew Luck as the Cardinals’ general manager of football looms as an exciting move in the college football landscape for several reasons.

The job comes with a unique selection, as Luck will handle aspects of both the football and business side of the program. For football, Luck will oversee the coaching staff, player personnel, recruiting, roster scheduling and student-athlete experience.

On the business side, he will handle duties typically handled by NFL team presidents – fundraising, sponsorships, attendance, sales, in-stadium experience and alumni relations.

Here’s a look at what the new role means for Luck, Stanford and the football landscape.

What makes this move unique?

While most major college football programs have a general manager — or some sort of personnel director — to oversee the roster, the job in college has always been very different than in the NFL. The head coach is in control in college.

Until Luck’s hiring at Stanford, the GM job has generally been one that reports to the head coach, who typically hires or helps hire the person in that role. The college coach is ultimately in control of the roster and recruiting decisions.

The Cardinals’ hiring of Luck marks an innovative turn in how football operations work. At Stanford, Luck’s role will be above the head coach on the organizational chart, and he will work with the coaching staff on personnel decisions.

Luck emphasized in a telephone interview that he is excited to work with and learn from Troy Taylor, a veteran coach who just completed his second year at Stanford.

Essentially, this move takes the paradigm shift of college players being paid directly through revenue share — expected to come in 2025 — and recognizes that managing player acquisition, retention and salary cap in this new world is complex and important enough to be managed full-time . As is generally, but not exclusively, done by NFL front offices.

Ultimately, with a salary cap, the portal, and the sport in constant flux, there was a natural evolution to this type of model. The Cardinal jumped on the trend, identified someone with a strong football background who is deeply invested in the program, and made the first move.

What does this mean for Stanford?

The latest wave of conference realignment left Stanford on a bit of a West Coast island. It is now in the ACC and plays a league schedule with largely unknown schools. (Other than old rival Cal, which also joined the ACC.)

Stanford finished 3-9 with a loss to San Jose State on Friday and finished 2-6 in ACC play, 16th in a 17-team league. The Cardinal finished ahead of only Florida State.

The recent shift in college football to the importance of name, image and likeness money in recruiting and for transfers has not been a positive development for some of the so-called academic schools, as one of their competitive advantages has always been the value of their scholarships are higher than those of their competitors. In some places it is also difficult to take transfers. Luck said Stanford hasn’t been on the cutting edge of some of those moves, calling it “slow to a draw.”

The allure of the scholarship kept schools like Stanford, which is No. 4 in the latest US news & World Report’s university rankings, in the mix for top prospects with great academics. But the economy available now has somewhat blunted that advantage and given the players in the Cardinals’ limited recruiting pool more factors to choose from in their process.

Luck said he believes in the “value proposition” of a Stanford scholarship, but also acknowledges the program will have to develop creative ways to be more competitive in the marketplace.

The Cardinal have not played in a bowl since the 2018 season, although they declined a bowl invitation in 2020. There were significant portal exodus prior to David Shaw’s departure from the school following the 2022 season. Taylor is 6-18 since taking over in 2023.

This will be a huge boost for Stanford from an identity standpoint and will likely be a significant move in quarterback recruiting. (The Cardinal have a long history of quarterback success, including three quarterbacks drafted since Luck.)

It’s also a way to align Stanford’s recent football success, which included four top-10 Associated Press polls in the 2010s, with the future.

What does this mean for Luck?

There is a deep affinity from Luck for Stanford. He met his wife, Nicole Pechanec, at the school and has roots in the area. “This is home,” he told ESPN.

Held and his recruiting class came to Stanford in the wake of a 1-11 season as a key point in Jim Harbaugh’s early tenure. Luck’s affiliation with the school is so deep that he stayed an extra year there despite being the likely No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft. (Cam Newton ended up going No. 1 that year, and Luck didn’t go until the following year.)

Held appreciated the so-called “Stanford Bubble,” where he was largely ignored on campus, mostly because the regular students there had bigger things to do.

“I wouldn’t say people don’t care that you’re a football player,” Luck told me back in 2011, “but they have more important things to worry about.”

Held enjoyed the Stanford experience by biking to class, taking a dip in the Hoover Fountain on campus, and studying in a hidden room in the library with knight’s armor that he and his friends discovered.

He returned to university in the fall of 2022 and earned a master’s degree in education, with designs to coach and teach. He worked as a volunteer assistant coach at Palo Alto High School for two seasons, rekindling his love for football.

Luck graduated from Stanford in 2012 and was selected as the No. 1. He ultimately retired from the Colts after battling significant injuries, and he opened up to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham in December 2022 about the physical and emotional turmoil that led to the decision.

In some ways, returning to the Cardinal always made sense for Luck. He stayed on to get his degree, came back for another and was the beacon of an era in which Stanford reached the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl with him at quarterback. The Cardinal then played in the Rose Bowl under Shaw for three of the next four years after Luck left for the NFL.

He calls it a “daunting challenge” and “steep climb” to get Stanford back there, something that has polished him up.

Will this start a trend in college football?

It is unlikely that there will be an immediate influx of general managers in charge of college football programs.

But for the past few months, there has been a quiet power struggle in athletic departments over how football programs will distribute their revenue share. (At most powerhouses, the so-called “cap figure” for football programs is expected to be more than $15 million.) Athletic directors will have influence and some oversight, and some coaches aren’t equipped to handle the nuances.

“Athletic directors seem to want this type of model,” one front office veteran told ESPN. “Head coaches don’t do that. They want the power.”

Some programs have brought in consultants to figure out NFL-style systems to manage the cap. Many programs have visited NFL franchises to get ideas on how guard management works at their level.

In many ways, Stanford recognizes what others are tiptoeing around – someone other than the coach is needed to manage everything in the program. There are a handful of NFL franchises where the coach has full power, and it only makes sense that college programs get there. (Especially considering that acquiring players in college is more complex than in the NFL, which selects from a much more limited pool.)

But with coaches at traditional powerhouses having to give up power for this to work, this front office trend is more likely to come in a stream, not a hailstorm.br/)