Andrew Luck: the General Manager...

Hey guys, welcome to the Daily Dose and welcome to December. December 2, 2024. Hope you had a great holiday weekend. So much going on. One thing did catch my eye for this Daily Dose. It's about college football. I know so much went on about college football this weekend. The planting of the flag by Michigan at Ohio State and all that hubbub. I mean, when did planting the flag become such a thing? You didn't conquer a country. You didn't go to Mount Everest. I just don't get that one. And then, of course, we have the firings and college football and the rankings and who's going to get in. We'll all deal with that.

 But one thing caught my eye is about my alma mater and one of my favorite players. Andrew Luck is becoming the football general manager of Stanford football. Let me just say that again. He's becoming the general manager of Stanford football. I actually have known Andrew Luck since he was a baby. When I was general manager of the Barcelona Dragons in the early 1990s, the general manager of the Frankfurt Galaxy was Oliver Luck. His father, Oliver, of course, played backup quarterback in the NFL, has been an executive in various different roles, and Andrew was a little baby running around then.

 But then fast forward, when I was back at Stanford for a reunion in, I don't know, 2011, 2012, I went by the student union, and I see this guy kind of slumped over his computer eating a pizza. And then someone said, "Hey, that's Andrew Luck." I'm like, that's Andrew Luck? The guy who was going to be the number one overall pick in the NFL draft was slaving away on some kind of engineering homework. That's who he is, and it didn't surprise me at all when he retired early. And it didn't surprise me at all that he had no inkling of coming back. He wanted a bigger life beyond football. Has been living in Palo Alto, and this is a perfect role.

 It's a challenging role because what's going on in college sports, as everyone knows, the professionalization of college football and all the issues around NIL and the transfer portal and the House settlement and whether we're going to have some structure. The bottom line now as we sit here today is Stanford, like a lot of schools, is losing players to the portal and NIL for bigger offers. Stanford, to this point, as I know as an alum, has not been playing the NIL game very hard, and in fact, loses a lot more players than it brings in. Now, we'll see. I think Andrew Luck's name alone will bring in a lot of fundraising and a lot of engagement that wasn't there before. And will he and Stanford play harder in the NIL game when they're losing a lot of money?

 You know, Stanford supports 36 sports. There were 11 that were axed during COVID that the reaction that was so intense were brought back. So, Stanford has an extraordinary number of sports, has been doing incredibly well throughout the years in Olympic sports, whether it be swimming or diving or water polo. These are sports where Stanford regularly produces multiple Olympians and medal winners in the Olympics.

 Anyway, what's going to go on with football? We'll find out. Andrew is well versed and certainly a pedigree because Oliver Luck, as I mentioned, was once the number two at the NCAA, was once the West Virginia athletic director, and is now a consultant with several big time universities. So, they're now basically in the same field. But yes, college sports have GMs and have salary cap managers. It's happening everywhere. Andrew Luck is the latest instance. It happens to be at my alma mater, and I'm happy for it because I think he's very bright, and I think he will bring in a lot of attention to Stanford football in the ACC, by the way, which I'm still trying to get my head around. We'll see how it happens. Anyway, that's my opening Daily Dose for the week. Hope you guys are doing well. Have a great week. I'll talk to you soon.