The GM arms race is on: Courtney Morgan turned down over $1 million annually from USC to stay at Alabama

The text messages started rolling in as soon as the news broke that Alabama general manager Courtney Morgan would soon make an average of $825,000 annually over three years in a landmark deal for a college football front office personnel role. There was a mix of shock and celebration within the college football world. Some couldn’t believe Alabama would spend that much on the position — words like “crazy” and “insane” were used — let alone before Alabama had played a game or signed a recruiting class under the new Kalen DeBoer regime. Others were thrilled about the impact it’d have on salaries throughout the industry, hoping it’d set a new standard that other prominent programs would try to match, perhaps setting off an arms race similar to that of head strength coaches in the last decade. 

Sources told CBS Sports that the front office role Morgan turned down at USC included a multi-year contract and a salary of over $1 million per year. In essence, Morgan took a discount to stay in Tuscaloosa and not return home to Southern California to work for the Trojans. It all boils down to the bond he has with Alabama head coach DeBoer, according to sources with knowledge of their working relationship. Their partnership was described as something akin to a biblical marriage in that the two are “equally yoked” after working with each other at Fresno State, San Jose State, and Washington. 

“There is a deep trust level for [Morgan] to be one of the first dudes that he asked to get on the plane with him to Tuscaloosa,” said one source familiar with the close relationship between DeBoer and Morgan. “It’s deeper than football. It’s deeper than player acquisition. He gives Kalen peace of mind, knowing it’s not just the logistics of the football it’s not just the personnel. It’s the big picture view that he brings to the table.” 

To many in the sport, it felt like a watershed moment. Ahead of a new salary cap era coming out of the landmark House settlement agreement, it could mark a new trend of football programs investing greater resources in a position of critical importance in this new college football landscape. 

“There will be in the next two to three years coordinator salaries,” said Pat Curran, an agent who represents both coaches and athletes. “It’s that type of position of importance at this point.” 

Curran heard from a dozen or so general managers after CBS Sports/247Sports first reported the salary news and all of them were excited about what it could mean for them moving forward. His advice to them? Go get a raise. 

“You can have the best Xs and Os but if you don’t have the dudes, it doesn’t matter,” Curran said. “To be able to have somebody or people at the top evaluating, keeping the guys there, negotiating contacts, all that stuff. We’re getting more and more to the NFL model.” 

But just how close could college football get to an NFL model where front office executives make multi-million dollar salaries? The GM role in the NFL is clearly defined because of the long history of such a job in professional football. Will a GM outlast one head coach and work with a subsequent one? Will a GM in college ever be able to hire and fire a head coach (something that typically defines the reputation of increasingly higher paid athletic directors)? 

The GM role in college football is, like many other things in the player personnel space, rapidly evolving. Name Image and Likeness is only three years old, and the upcoming House settlement set to be the next biggest shakeup in the history of college sports isn’t even finalized yet. 

Morgan’s salary currently sits at the top of the market, whereas most of the higher-end personnel people at Power 4 schools typically make around $300,000 to $400,000. That number is the range for a Group of Five coordinator or Power Four position coach, and without leverage from an outside party (which Morgan had) there isn’t really wiggle room to negotiate a significantly higher pay raise year-over-year. But while Morgan may make double the salary of Texas Tech’s James Blanchard, another renowned GM in personnel circles, their role is substantially different because Blanchard can unilaterally give an athlete a scholarship offer — something virtually unheard of in the sport. Morgan’s market-leading deal and the increased need for a GM to manage scouting (transfer portal and high school), on-campus recruiting, outreach to the NIL marketing infrastructures and salary cap could make the GM role an increasingly powerful figure in college football offices. And the ceiling of GM power may end up capping what some are seeing as a coming staff arms race especially as teams have to figure out how to pay 11 football coaches, even more full-time assistants and figure out how to navigate the coming revenue sharing environment. 

For now, imbuing the GM role with increasing levels of power and influence is a good thing for purposes of high-level staff diversity as college football continues to fall woefully short in that area at the head coach level. Morgan, along with Blanchard, are at the forefront of a group of Black personnel men as the position is being defined in real-time. Other highly touted Black GMs in college football include Brandon Harris at Texas, Errin Joe at Georgia Tech, and Butler Benton at Notre Dame (officially assistant AD for player personnel).

Morgan has been instrumental in Alabama putting together what is currently the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports, despite DeBoer having no previous SEC recruiting experience. In a 247Sports feature on Alabama’s GM, DeBoer called Morgan a “pillar of the program” and said Washington wouldn’t have made the national championship game last season without him. Thanks to a big raise, that pillar remains in Tuscaloosa. Where the GM role goes from here will be the most important subplot of the future of college football staffs. 

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