Mizzou hires first-ever Director of Football Strategy and Finance
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Football has created a new role to coincide with the modern era of college athletics.
Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz announced that Gaurav Verma is joining his team's staff as Director of Football Strategy and Finance, a brand-new position, amid a new age of revenue sharing and roster management.
“We are really excited to add Gaurav to our program,” Drinkwitz said in Friday's press release. “His NFL experience, as well as his business background, will help us navigate revenue sharing and contract management.”
Despite the sweeping trend of college football teams hiring general managers, MU is embracing a different route. The newly-designed role differentiates from a general manager but does share similar responsibilities. Under its guidelines, Verma will report directly to Coach Drinkwitz, and his job will be focused on tackling these primary tasks, per a university press release:
- Roster, Scholarship and Revenue Cap Planning
- Talent Evaluation and Scouting Operations
- Recruiting Calendar and Logistics
- Analytics and Recruiting Infrastructure
- Compliance, NIL and Interdepartmental Collaboration
Additionally, the Director of Football Strategy and Finance will work in close collaboration with the team's coaches, recruiting staff, compliance department, athletics administration and Every True Tiger Brands.
Verma boasts a wealth of experience across several different fields, working in sports finance, data analytics and investment banking over the last 10 years. Most recently, the Boston native served as a salary cap specialist with the Denver Broncos. Before that, he earned an MBA in Finance from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Johns Hopkins University.
"I'm thrilled to join Mizzou Football at such a transformative time,” Verma said in the press release. “With college football evolving rapidly through revenue sharing and strategic roster management, I'm excited to apply my background in finance and the NFL to help Mizzou build sustainably competitive teams on the sport's biggest stage — the SEC. I want to thank Coach Drinkwitz for this opportunity and can't wait to help build on the program's success as we compete for national championships."
