When I hear “general manager” in relation to sports, my mind drifts to the NFL.
But moving forward, we’re all going to have to change how we think about college football — if we haven’t already.
In recent months, many programs have hired high-profile general managers, such as Oklahoma, which poached the Senior Bowl’s Executive Director, Jim Nagy, or North Carolina, which hired Michael Lombardi after wooing Bill Belichick to be the program’s head coach.
Nebraska is no different with its recent hiring of Pat Stewart. (Granted, Nebraska did previously have Sean Padden as its general manager, but he’s been moved to a different role focusing on finance and player analytics.) According to athletic department records, Stewart will earn $800,000 annually as general manager.
That’s a coordinator-level salary. Which is exactly how Matt Rhule views Stewart.
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“It’s like any other coordinator. It’s the same as Dana, it’s the same as Butler, the same as Ek,” Rhule said this week, referring to offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, defensive coordinator John Butler and special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler.
General managers — as college football enters this new space of roster limits and revenue sharing and unlimited staff — have different job requirements at each institution. So, what exactly will Stewart be responsible for?
For one, he’ll be responsible for how Nebraska will “implement the philosophy” in how it will “evaluate” its incoming players. And it’s important to note that, “the way we evaluate college players within the portal is going to be different from the way we evaluate high school players,” Rhule said.
Stewart has plenty of experience with similar scouting in previous roles, considering he was most recently the New England Patriots’ director of pro personnel. He’s also been an NFL scout and a director of player personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers.
“Pat’s always been really a difference maker thinking about that, talking about that,” Rhule added. “So as we move into this new space in college — recruiting, retention and now finance — Pat’s another really, really smart person who can help us with that, take our evaluation skills to the next level.”
Looking forward to hearing from the man himself as to what he thinks about all this.
Other assorted thoughts:
Tyus Wilson
This was the goal all along for Tyus Wilson, Nebraska’s dominant high jumper. Of course, the senior from Sterling, Kansas, had some ups and downs this season, but the high-flying Husker had his best meet of the season when it mattered most: at the NCAA indoor national championships.
Wilson — with a leap of 7 feet, 5¾ inches — is Nebraska’s latest national champion and the first male Husker to win an indoor national championship since Nicholas Gordon’s victory in the long jump in 2009. He’s also the 18th male Husker to win a national title in the indoor meet in program history, joining his event coach Dusty Jonas (2008, high jump).
His leap moved him to be tied for No. 3 in program history. Jonas holds the indoor program record at 7-7.
What an accomplishment for Wilson. We’ll surely have plenty more on the senior star in the days and weeks to come.
Axelina Johansson
The Swedish Sensation is back on top.
After winning her first national title in the shot put during the 2023 outdoor season, the Olympian was crowned national champion once again, this time at the 2025 NCAA indoor national championships.
Her throw of 63 feet, 3¼ inches was a little over an inch shorter than the mark she won the Big Ten title with (and set the Nebraska indoor record with) a few weeks back, but it was more than good enough to take home the first-place trophy in Virginia.
With the win, Johansson is the 16th female Husker to win an indoor national championship and is the first in the last 20 years to do so. Before Johansson’s win, the most recent indoor event winner was Anne Shadle in 2005 in the mile.
She’s also the first Husker woman since Shadle to win national titles in both indoor and outdoor.
What an incredible achievement for Johansson. Like with Wilson, we’ll have plenty more on her in the days and weeks to come.
Norris and Barret Boesiger
Most sports fans have seen the heave from Norris’ Barret Boesiger by now. His buzzer-beating shot from the opposite 3-point line was the stuff of fiction, as was the storyline around it. Not having scored all game, but sinking that shot? Hollywood might think twice about scripting that. But there it was, captured by dozens of cameras from all angles to send the Titans to the state semifinals and into the national spotlight for their 15 minutes of fame.
It was the No. 1 play on SportsCenter — even on a day that featured multiple overtime games in the college ranks in their conference tournaments. Pat McAfee’s show highlighted the play. The video that Striv Sports posted on X of Boesiger’s shot had more than 310,000 views as of Saturday afternoon and that doesn’t count the dozens of other shots from professional and amateur videographers alike.
The stuff of dreams.
Yes, Norris lost in the state semifinals on, painfully, a buzzer-beater by Omaha Skutt. As heartwrenching as that is, the magic of Thursday will hopefully live forever. I know I’ll certainly think about it for a long, long time.
Selection Sunday: Nebraska men
The Husker men will not hear their name on Sunday on ESPN for the NCAA Tournament selection show, but that doesn’t mean their season is over. It sounds like they’re going to be heading to the College Basketball Crown, a new postseason tournament for 2025 that’s spearheaded by Fox.
Why is that important? Fox is one of the Big Ten’s broadcasting partners, so expect a few Big Ten teams in the 16-team field.
The tournament, which begins March 31 and runs through April 6 will be broadcast on FS1 for the first and second rounds and Fox for the semifinals and finals.
Selection Sunday: Nebraska women
The Husker women should hear their name called on Sunday for the NCAA Tournament — which will be the third time in the last four years that Nebraska has danced.
That in and of itself is a massive victory for this Nebraska team that’s been plagued with terrible injury luck all season. Losing Natalie Potts during the nonconference was rough. Losing Allison Weidner, again, was unbelievable. Briefly losing Britt Prince down the stretch could have been costly for Nebraska’s postseason hopes.
Where could they go? Most of the Bracketologists have circled Nebraska as a No. 10 seed with a trip to Notre Dame for a first-round matchup with Oklahoma State. But, as we know from last year, what is projected is not necessarily how the selection committee views things.
All but one of the projections before Selection Sunday last year (which made absolutely zero sense, by the way) had Nebraska as a No. 7 or a No. 8 seed, playing in various subregionals. Nebraska ended up as a No. 6 seed.
The only one who accurately projected Nebraska as a No. 6 seed? College Sports Madness.
So where does CSM have Nebraska this year? A No. 10 seed, which is in line with everyone else, but the folks at CSM have Nebraska facing off against Louisville in the TCU region.
Who’s right? We’ll find out Sunday evening.
Selection Sunday: Omaha men
What the Mavericks have accomplished this season is nothing short of extraordinary.
Two seasons ago, Omaha was 9-23. Last year, Omaha went 15-18. And this season? The trash can beating, social media darlings are 22-12 and won both the Summit League titles in the regular season and the conference tournament — clinching their first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level.
(Omaha, at the Division II ranks, made the NCAA Tournament 12 times before the Mavs moved up to Division I in 2011.)
This Chris Crutchfield-coached squad is fun to watch, and I can’t help but root for them. Maybe they, as a No. 15 or No. 16 seed, will be the next Cinderella. Wouldn’t that be something?
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