Reacting to Mizzou's Hire of Key New Front-Office Role: The Extra Point

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"General manager" isn't the official title for Gaurav Verma with the Missouri Tigers, but his role as the director of football strategy and finance with the program will have him take care of many of the same tasks as one.

The hire of Verma, who spent last season as a salary cap specialist with the Denver Broncos, is only the latest in the trend of college athletic programs around the country hiring new executives to manage the new financial obligations created by the introduction of revenue sharing, brought in by the approval of the NCAA v. House settlement this June.

His position with the Tigers will include these tasks, per a university release:

- Roster, scholarship and revenue cap planning
- Talent evaluation and scouting operations
- Recruiting calendar and logistics
- Analytics and recruiting infrastructure
- Compliance, NIL and interdepartmental collaboration

These expectations are perfectly suited for Verma's unique background. His job with the Broncos was actually his first experience working for a sports team of any kind. He graduated from John Hopkins University in 2017 with a bachelor of arts in economics and political science. He then earned an MBA from MIT in 2023.

In addition to working in the banking industry, he also has experience working with sports analytics, working for the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

With the hire of Verma, Drinkwitz, plus his coaching and personnel staff, continue to divert adequate time to on-field results and recruiting instead of having to spend too much time wrapped up in the details of the finances of the program's roster.

Missouri men's basketball head coach Dennis Gates did the same this summer, hiring Tim Fuller as the program's first general manager.

"It'll allow me to continue to do other things without dividing time," Gates said in April, shortly after starting the hiring process for a general manager. "Agent relationships is a real thing. It's very important throughout the season. It's very important in the offseason, and it frees any staff up and allows guys to really focus on the players in your program."

Because of how new this type of role is, each candidate is a bit different. Verma's experience in finance and analytics makes him especially interesting.