Utah Football’s Embraced The Importance Of A College Football General Manager

Aug 26, 2024, 2:24 PM | Updated: 3:57 pm

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Football is days away from the 2024 season opener. Head coach Kyle Whittingham is optimistic that this team will be competitive.

That optimism largely stems from the roster that they’ve pieced together this season. It’s an interesting mixture of players and paths to the program. It’s a big task to manage 85 scholarship spots, especially now with NIL as part of the equation.

Ay Utah, 𝗜𝗧’𝗦 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞‼️

🗓️: Thursday 8.29
⏰: 7PM MT
📺: ESPN+#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/rACHlxvzzS

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) August 26, 2024

That’s led to changes within Utah’s staff and nearly all other coaching staffs in college football.

The growing need for a General Manager in college football

Besides the head coach, there’s arguably no one with more influence on a team’s future than the General Manager. That’s quite apparent in the NFL where names like John Lynch, Howie Roseman, and Les Sneed are as common as Andy Reid, Mike Tomlin, and Sean Payton.

For one reason or another, the concept of a player personnel department dedicated to roster management didn’t trickle down to the collegiate level until very recently.

Coaches have traditionally handled personnel decisions themselves, which included one assistant taking on the role of recruiting coordinator on top of his position group duties.

However, that has all changed in recent years and it’s another dynamic that Kyle Whittingham and Utah have embraced.

“It’s an absolute necessity now,” Kyle Whittingham said of the GM role. “In this day and age of college football, you not only need a General Manager but a Chief of Staff, which we hired a couple of weeks back. Fortunately, our administration has allowed us to bring in a General Manager and Chief of Staff. ”

With all that is required in today’s college football roster management- high school recruiting, transfer portal, managing NIL, it’s become a huge endeavor. Having those two staff roles helps Kyle Whittingham stay on top of all things within his program.

“General Manager is invaluable- it’s on the same level and the same equivalency of GM’s in the NFL, I mean, you couldn’t do it without them,” he explained. “In order to keep all the finances and everything straight, making sure everything is operating as it should in that space- namely NIL, it’s an absolute must.”

Utah Football’s General Manager, Robert Blechen

“It’s been a huge plus for us, Robert Blechen has been our GM, and has been since we filled the position two or three years ago now,” Whittingham said.

Under Robert Blechen’s watch as GM and Director of Player Personnel, he has helped guide the program to its top recruiting classes- including Utah’s all-time highest-ranked class in 2023.

2025 Class Rank (currently) – 42
2024 Class Rank – 40
2023 Class Rank – 23
2022 Class Rank – 34
2021 Class Rank – 33

Fortunately for Utah, Blechen has been with the program for 10 years now. He has plenty of familiarity with the various tasks of recruiting. He also has a good understanding of what Utah coaches try to identify in recruits.

Blechen originally joined the program in 2014 as a recruiting assistant. That role largely revolves around the grunt work of recruiting- watching film, establishing communication with recruits, etc. He was named Assistant Director of Player Personnel in 2016 and then Director of Player Personnel one year later. Those two roles brought increasing oversight with recruiting and again, deepened his understanding of roster management at Utah.

Utah doesn’t have the largest NIL backing. Yet, they’ve been able to keep pace in their roster construction in recent years.

They’ve done so through calculated additions from the transfer portal and high school ranks. That speaks to their ability to identify the right kids that fit their needs and their mold in the program. That’s allowed them to enter the 2024 season with perhaps their best roster top-to-bottom.