Kentucky's new GM will help Will Stein be 'adaptable' in NIL world

by: Adam Luckett5 hours agoadamluckettksr

News dropped on Wednesday that Oregon director of recruiting Pat Biondo will be Kentucky’s new general manager. His work will start almost instantly. Will Stein needs to build his first staff in Lexington, but important roster decisions must be made and a plan to attack the portal must be built.

Through all of that, this football organization will have to manage a salary cap. There will be the allotted rev-share amount from the university and extra NIL funds provided by JMI’s collective. At his introductory press conference, Stein was confident in the financial plan presented by Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart and deputy athletics director Marc Hill during the search. When asked by KSR, Stein confirmed that he will have the funding needed to go build the roster required.

But he and his coaching staff will need help. That’s where Biondo will step in.

“That’s why I’m hiring a general manager,” Stein told KSR’s Matt Jones on Thursday when asked about Kentucky’s NIL structure. “To help us through this, and somebody I trust fully, and that’s been in our system out in Oregon, and knows the landscape of college football. You just gotta be adaptable. You know? You gotta be able to change with the times. It is what it is.”

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Part of that could be managing a salary cap and make sure there is enough of the pie allotted for every position. We are still unsure of what Biondo’s specific job requirements will be but it is clear he will be play a large role in Kentucky’s roster-building process. Barhnart called it “ridiculous” to assume that any head coach is not making final roster decisions but a front office structure can help streamline things for the coaching staff and narrow down the pool of targets.

Pat Biondo will help Will Stein and this Kentucky football program adapt to a world where a roster budget has to be balanced. Everyone is still adapting to college football’s new age. UK is doing that by joining the growing general manager trend in college football.