It’s wild to realize that college football now has general managers nationwide. Oklahoma just brought in Senior Bowl director and NFL scout Jim Nagy, Stanford hired its former quarterback Andrew Luck and North Carolina has former NFL GM Michael Lombardi all in its general manager roles.
These are just a few examples. Nebraska is with them in adapting to the new realm of college football. Sean Padden was the Husker football ‘general manager’ this past season but has now moved into a more corporate, contract-deciphering role. With that, head coach Matt Rhule has brought in a big name for Nebraska’s new GM, Pat Stewart.
“Sean [Padden] recently moved into a new role,” Rhule said. “All he is doing now is contracts. It’s a big role now dealing with agents. “I’m here, (at the NFL Combine) he’s in the hotel talking to agents.”
Who is Pat Stewart?
Stewart has quite the front office resume. He spent 2007-2017 as a scout for the New England Patriots. From there, he took a step up the ladder as a national NFL scout for the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2020, he followed Rhule to the Carolina Panthers as the director of player personnel.
“We just hired Pat Stewart,” Rhule said. “He’ll be our new GM. We’re just taking our personnel department, which used to be four guys, now eight, now it’s the NFL in college. It’s what you need to have a chance.”
This wasn’t Stewart’s first encounter with the former Panther coach. He worked with Rhule at Western Carolina in 2005 and at Temple in 2006. Stewart most recently returned to the Patriots for the past two seasons as the director of player personnel in Foxborough. With Mike Vrabel now the Patriots’ new head coach, this allowed Rhule to snag a big name.
What to expect from Stewart at Nebraska?
The world of college football continues to change. With Stewart taking over as GM, this will allow Rhule to still be a coach in the wake of revenue sharing and NIL taking over the game. Having Padden in the administrative, contract-type of role for athletes will allow Stewart to focus on roster numbers.
The Huskers have a legitimate professional staff from top to bottom. The former Patriot director of player personnel knows how to run an organization. Nebraska football and the rest of college football are organizations first. The programs that have the best staff members will thrive in the new landscape of the sport.