The College Front Office

The College Front Office NIT Bracket Challenge is now live... see if you have what it takes to be crowned the #1 college basketball sicko Play for free here: thecollegefrontoffice.substack.com/p/college-fron…

Introducing the first annual College Front Office Men’s Basketball GM of the Year Honorable mentions, finalists, and the winner: thecollegefrontoffice.substack.com/p/the-college-…

I've been thinking/talking about this general "feeder" concept for a while now, but Noah has worked it out at a much deeper level, to the point where I'm surprised he's still a free agent and not working on a staff. Another must read from one of my favorite CBB thinkers.

I woke up a bit frustrated today Seems like every week I see a new headline about someone in college sports not honoring their word... I put some of my thoughts about this on my publication The College Front Office (@CollegeFrontO) Link in replies

College basketball teams return just 28% of minutes (down from 60% pre-NIL) Returners show better development AND lower variance than transfers For on-ball guards, returning reduces offensive production variance by ~50% My full analysis for @CollegeFrontO - link in replies

Time for NBA front-offices to consider draft and stash for early entrants. Take a second rounder, offer them minimum tender, coordinate with a college coach you trust and keep your two-way spots free for more developed players. If they develop well it’s a great trade asset

Some blame #NIL for killing mid-major basketball Others say it promotes parity The data is complicated, but mid-majors have been holding steady The feeling of decline is real, but the feeling is likely misattributed to player compensation Link to my @CollegeFrontO article ⬇️

Public trust in basketball is eroding At the same time, sports commodity trading is bypassing state gambling restrictions designed to protect athletes and preserve integrity I put my full thoughts on the @CollegeFrontO (link in replies)

A lot of people are focused on whether UW can enforce the buyout in Demond Williams Jr.’s contract The bigger question: will the NCAA actually enforce its own guidance and apply a cap hit to whoever poaches him? Without that, there’s no real deterrent to this type of behavior

In my view, the single missing piece to “fix” college sports is NCAA jurisdiction over player contracts via a neutral arbitration tribunal... like we see in virtually every other professional sport Hate massive roster churn? This gives teeth to multi-year deals (more “loyalty,” if that’s the phrasing you like) Want small schools rewarded for good scouting? Fast, enforceable buyouts make that possible And when buyouts carry real financial consequences, including impacts on rev-share cap space, rational programs will poach less. A free market works when contracts are enforceable

Also correct!!!!! Everyone should follow this account How long will it take for people to truly dig into the unionization/CBA topic before they stop floating it as the silver bullet?

Efficient scouting, cap management, and player payment are now a major edge in college sports. Many top programs hired GMs this offseason knowing that Recently, I made a men’s CBB front-office directory on @CollegeFrontO Today, I released one for the women's game Link ⬇️

Emergency Christmas Eve article. Former NBA draft pick James Nnaji will suit up for @BaylorMBB for the remainder of the season. Link in replies.

The question I get asked the most... Do you have a list of college basketball GMs? I've compiled a database of all 365 Division I programs and their front-office staff over at @CollegeFrontO No paywall. This is 100% for the love of the game Link to the list in the replies:

Before the season tipped off, @CollegeFrontO looked into two key metrics that would help identify who would excel in the 2025-26 college basketball season: roster age and expected transfer production. In our preseason roster-construction analysis (link in comments), we highlighted five-programs that were optimized for sucsess with above-average roster age and low-levels of transfer reliance: Houston, Arizona, Alabama, Purdue, and Michigan State. These teams, built around a strong identity, retained their core and kept transfer reliance low. This is a financially efficient model that allows teams to keep proven production at below-market cost and using those savings to invest into high-upside prep talent or targeted transfer-portal role players. Three weeks later, that projection is holding. The five programs we identified have combined for a +28 movement from their preseason AP positions and currently hold the top-3 spots in the most recent AP Poll. #1 @BoilerBall: (NC) #2 @ArizonaMBB: (+11) #3 @UHCougarMBK: (-1) #8 @AlabamaMBB: (+7) #11 @MSU_Basketball: (+11) There is a lot that goes into winning at the highest level. It is hard to put yourself in position to contend without optimizing your resources and roster.

My latest for @CollegeFrontO: Two weeks into the college basketball season we are seeing that the biggest risers in KenPom rankings are mid- and low-major teams that have embraced professionalizing their staffs The biggest fallers have not followed suit Link in replies ⬇️

It appears St. Joe’s has hired Joe Mihalich Jr. as General Manager for Men’s and Women's Basketball An official announcement has not yet been made, but SJU has updated its university directory to reflect the hire

Here’s how conferences are stacking up after two weeks of the college basketball season compared to their preseason KenPom projections Biggest High-Major riser: ACC Biggest Mid-Major riser: Big Sky Biggest High-Major faller: Big East Biggest Mid-Major faller: SoCon

Through the first two weeks of the college basketball season the biggest risers in @kenpomeroy rankings are: 1) @PrivateersHoops 2) @SkyhawkHoops 3) @SFA_MBB 4) @UBuffaloMBB 5) @UTRGVmbb 3 of the 5 have formally added front-office positions to their basketball staffs *While UTRGV isn’t counted as having a GM, they did hire Adam Howard: IU’s former Director of Recruiting & Operations, a background that often aligns with front-office responsibilities Full story soon on @CollegeFrontO