Narduzzi: ‘We Have a General Manager Already’

Updated: 12:53

In today’s era of college athletics between NIL, the transfer portal and the impending revenue sharing, the trend is for programs to hire a general manager.

It’s been rumored for a few months that Pitt has had one in place with Doug Whaley, as Pittsburgh Sports Now reported in February.

On Thursday, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi brought more clarity to the situation when asked if the program anticipated hiring a full-time general manager.

“We have a general manager already,” Narduzzi said. “Doug Whaley’s been our guy. We’ve had one for a couple years now. We’re way ahead of the curve. We’ve already had a guy that is taking care of the player personell issues that we have.”

Whaley was hired by Alliance 412, Pitt’s NIL collective, as the Senior Advisor of Player Administration in 2023.

During Narduzzi’s press conference, he went on to state that Whaley works directly for Pitt.

However, a Pitt spokesperson further confirmed that Whaley is still formally employed by Alliance 412.

The 52-year-old Whaley is a 1994 Pitt alum and native of Upper St. Clair. He led the Buffalo Bills as General Manager from 2014 to 2017 and previously worked with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a pro personnel coordinator from 1999 to 2010.

General managers have become more common around college football and some are even starting to utilize their power. Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck recently made the decision to fire head coach Troy Taylor in March.

This is the first public acknowledgment of the Pitt football program having a GM as there has not been any official announcement from the athletic department and Whaley does not appear on the athletics website.