USC has nabbed a key figure from Notre Dame’s run to the national championship game.
The Trojans announced Friday that they’ve hired former Notre Dame football general manager Chad Bowden to the same position.
USC will be paying Bowden about $1 million per year, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to Front Office Sports. That apparently more than triples his salary with the Irish. (Because USC and Notre Dame are private schools, their contracts are not public records.)
The salary figure was first reported by the website Football Scoop.
The big payday represents the outsized significance that the GM role has taken in college sports. Programs are now grappling with how to recruit and pay players from a combination of revenue sharing—on the horizon in 2025—and NIL (name, image, and likeness) payments.
Big names have been taking on the position in recent months. Adrian Wojnarowski stunningly stepped down from his role as top NBA insider at ESPN to become the men’s basketball GM at St. Bonaventure, his alma mater. Former four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck also returned to his alma mater to become GM of Stanford football.
“First off, it’s overdue. College basketball and football is just as competitive as the NFL and NBA and no team would ever not have a GM, let alone an entire front office,” Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel told Front Office Sports.
“The idea of a coach handling all of the responsibilities was always outdated. With transfer portal and NIL you have a salary cap issue and constant movement of players. You used to sign 25 kids and those were basically your kids for the next 4-5 years. Now you’re not just watching high school players—you’re watching other college teams. There’s way more volume and complexity.”
Wetzel noted that Nick Saban “kind of started this” by staffing a whole scouting department at Alabama that included a phalanx of former coaches.
“You’re not going to ask Andy Reid to scout college football players while he’s preparing for a game that weekend, so what sense does it make to ask Ryan Day to do that with recruiting high school players during the season?” Wetzel said.
Last year, Bowden rebuffed a hiring attempt by Michigan to stay at Notre Dame. Bowden is no stranger to the GM role: He is the son of former Reds and Nationals GM Jim Bowden.
“We are very excited to welcome Chad Bowden to our staff,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement. “His outstanding body of work in recruiting and roster management is recognized throughout the country. With the support of Jen Cohen and the administration, Chad’s hire is both vital to the future of our program and sends a strong message about the direction of USC Football. We’re excited for him to arrive and hit the ground running.”
