As most basketball fans know, the great Adrian Wojnarowski has been the leading voice for breaking NBA news over the past several years. Shortly after announcing his retirement from ESPN Wednesday, he announced that he would become the first men’s basketball general manager for St. Bonaventure. Now, the term “general manager" may be extremely familiar for a professional basketball franchise — but is very new on the collegiate landscape. With more and more programs adding the position, Virginia must follow suit in order to win in the Name, Image and Likeness age.
In the NBA, a general manager is responsible for drafting players, managing and signing contracts, hiring or firing the head coach and running the organization at-large, among other responsibilities. For an NCAA program, this sounds like the role of an athletic director. Needless to say, collegiate athletics are changing at a breakneck pace with NIL. A general manager could elevate a college basketball program to win on the recruitment battlefield.
The role of a collegiate general manager is largely undefined — Wojnarowski is the first “big name” to accept such a role.
According to St. Bonaventure, “in his role of general manager, Wojnarowski will serve the coaching staff in managing a wide range of responsibilities including name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities and as a liaison with collectives; transfer portal management; recruit, family and alumni player relationships; professional player programs; and program fundraising.”
Unlike an athletic director, St. Bonaventure’s idea for Wojnarowski makes him a team-specific relationship builder. While an athletic director oversees all varsity programs and manages long-term projects like the Virginia Athletics Master Plan, a general manager can dedicate their efforts to one specific program.
Instead of focusing on a broader vision across athletic programs, a general manager fosters strong connection with each student-athlete and operates in between the coaching staff and athletic director. With Wojnarowski, the Bonnies should benefit from having a legend in the basketball community become a tangible piece of their program. Recruits will seriously weigh the presence of Wojnarowski in their decision of where to play college basketball.
The Cavaliers could follow the Wojnarowski model used by St. Bonaventure and bring on an alumnus — Wojnarowski graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1991 — to essentially bring their reputation into the fold to increase recruitment efforts. Cavalier legends Ralph Sampson and Joe Harris or even current NBA players like Malcolm Brogdon could fill this role. Professional players being involved with college programs while still playing in the professional ranks is not unheard of, and is commonplace in other sports such as lacrosse.
Employing a general manager could be mutually beneficial for younger alumni looking to break into the NBA front office community too. Kyle Guy, athlete development mentor and special assistant, could be an option as he enters a new chapter of his basketball career. He still holds a reputation of success, which recruits will remember — and some schools have assistant coaches double as the general manager.
As another option, some collegiate basketball programs with a general manager have filled this role by hiring NBA scouts or G League general managers from the professional sphere. Rick Carlisle, Class of 1984 alumnus — the current head coach of the Indiana Pacers who has played a significant role in the team’s roster construction — could be a fun option, although he may want to stick around in Indiana.
Another possibility would be legendary alumna Dawn Staley — one of the brightest minds in all of basketball — even though she is currently an NCAA coach at South Carolina. Such ideas are not impossible — for the time being, the NCAA general manager role has no bounds.
The men’s basketball program has always been successful under Coach Tony Bennett, but he has only ever signed one five star recruit — sophomore transfer forward TJ Power, who initially committed to Duke. Duke was actually the first school to employ a general manager for men’s basketball, hiring longtime staffer Rachel Baker in 2022. Hiring a reputable individual to specialize in recruitment could help Virginia acquire even better talent than the promising crop Bennett already has.
The Cavaliers are by no means catastrophically behind the times — adding Kyle Guy as an assistant coach and bringing in a promising transfer class will pay massive dividends. However, the new frontier of general managers could provide an opportunity for Virginia to leapfrog ACC rivals and return to the heights of the 2010s.
There is also the fact that almost any prominent high school recruit has a goal to reach the NBA. Virginia has not been a prime destination for any recruit seeking to be one-and-done, as they prefer to either play for a national title contender or skip college entirely to earn money in the NBA G League. If the Cavaliers employ an NBA scout or someone with a connection to professional organizations, prized recruits may be swayed towards Virginia by the prospect of a mentor uniquely positioned to help them go pro.
Essentially, the possibilities that are unlocked by the hiring of a general manager are virtually limitless. Director of Athletics Carla Williams can tailor the role to help the team achieve whatever objective she desires. Hiring the right person for this position — someone who can help bring out the best in our men’s basketball program — is a critical step toward ensuring our team keeps pace with other programs across the country.
There is no doubt that college athletics is in uncharted territory. The Cavaliers may not consider the addition of a general manager at all — but they should. In an era defined by unprecedented change and uncertainty within the NCAA, only one fact is for certain — adapt or die.
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