College Basketball Coach Resigns, Named General Manager At Prominent Big East School

The rise of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness opportunities have led to a new landscape in college athletics.

In order to navigate it, one prominent college basketball program is taking an unprecedented step.

Villanova announced that it has created a new position on its men's basketball staff: general manager. The Wildcats hired Baker Dunleavy on Thursday to fill it, according to ESPN's Jeff Borzello.

Dunleavy stepped down from his post as the head coach at Quinnipiac in order to take the job.

Dunleavy amassed a record of 86-93 across six seasons at Quinnipiac. He had a breakthrough in 2022-23, winning 20 games for the first time as a head coach.

Dunleavy played his college basketball at Villanova from 2003-06. He is the brother of former Duke star and longtime NBA player Mike Dunleavy.

The hire is likely something that will be replicated by other college basketball and football programs in the coming years. The changes in college sports have resulted in head coaches taking on new responsibilities — not just recruiting high school prospects, but scouting and recruiting transfers, maintaining relationships with boosters, and in some cases helping spearhead NIL fundraising efforts and directing where the money goes.

A general manager should be able to take some of those responsibilities off second-year head coach Kyle Neptune's plate and allow him to focus a bit more on the X's and O's.

Villanova missed the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time since 2011-12 in Neptune's first season replacing Jay Wright.

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