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Florida Poaches NFL Talent to Bring Pro-Style Front Office to Gainesville

Florida Gators hire Falcons front-office veteran Nick Polk and analytics expert Benjamin Elsner to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving college football landscape

Noah Henderson

Sep 16, 2017; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators mascots, Alberta and Albert, during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images
Sep 16, 2017; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators mascots, Alberta and Albert, during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images / Kim Klement-Imagn Images

College sports continue to evolve into a professional model and the University of Florida is making moves to stay ahead of the curve. This week the Gators poached long-time Atlanta Falcons Director of Football Operations Nick Polk to join Florida as Associate AD and Football General Manager. 

The acquisition positions the Billy Napier-led Gators well to tackle whatever the pro model of college sports ultimately looks like. 

Whether you love or hate it, teams must adapt to the new model of college sports to compete at the highest level. NIL pay-for-play agreements and upcoming institutional revenue sharing have transformed traditional athlete compensation from scholarships into million-dollar contracts. 

Before the emergence of NIL in 2021, every college football player earned the same payment, a full-tuition scholarship, books, and room and board. Now, the most elite athletes in the country can command seven-figure payouts for their athletic talents. 

Schools nationwide quickly learned that paying the right players is more important than spending the most for players. Professional sports front offices have dedicated tremendous resources to perfecting this science. 

Depending on the House v. NCAA settlement ruling, colleges could soon have this skillset become even more crucial. If formally approved on April 7, colleges will have a $20,500,000 salary cap to compensate athletes. 

Now, more than ever, the science of athlete valuation will be paramount to roster construction. Finding players that overperform compared to their NIL package will be crucial in an era of college sports that implements the professional salary cap concept.

According to a University of Florida press release, Polk will be “responsible for revenue share and NIL allocation, student-athlete contract negotiations, football budgets, roster management, and work with football personnel.” These concepts have long been foreign to college personnel, but Polk’s seventeen years of experience with the Falcons overseeing salary cap management, contract negotiations, and scouting makes him a perfect candidate to integrate professional concepts into the Gator program.  

Florida’s front-office operations will not be a one-man band. Benjamin Elsner will be onboarded alongside Polk, who will assume the title of Director of Football strategy. Elsner was previously the Chief of Staff for 33rd Team, a platform providing in-depth player analysis for NFL franchises. 

Coach Napier has taken Elsner with bringing cutting edge NFL analytics to Florida. According to fourth-year head coach, “He will be working alongside Nick in the salary cap and contract space. He will also help us use analytics and A.I. to evaluate all the data relative to strategy throughout the organization. He will be working closely with me to make sure we are continuing to evolve and are using the best practices throughout our program at all levels.”

There are 134 FBS teams, 68 Power 4 programs, and 32 NFL teams. The number of qualified NFL front-office personnel willing to join the college ranks is finite. The arms race is beginning, and for many colleges, waiting to fully invest in a front office may yield a depleted talent pool. 

The Gators are not first movers by any means, but they were early enough to gain an advantage moving into college sports' new era. As seen with pro-sports, front-office decision making is often the most crucial factor to success –– Polk and Elsner’s skillsets have the potential to be a differentiator for Florida.

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Noah Henderson
NOAH HENDERSON

Professor Noah Henderson teaches in the sport management department at Loyola University Chicago. Outside the classroom, he advises companies, schools, and collectives on Name, Image, and Likeness best practices. His academic research focuses on the intersection of law, economics, and social consequences regarding college athletics, NIL, and sports gambling. Before teaching, Prof. Henderson was part of a team that amended Illinois NIL legislation and managed NIL collectives at the nation’s most prominent athletic institutions while working for industry leader Student Athlete NIL. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team. Prof. Henderson is a native of San Diego, California, and a former golf CIF state champion with Torrey Pines High School. Outside of athletics, he enjoys playing guitar, hanging out with dogs, and eating California burritos. You can follow him on Twitter: @NoahImgLikeness. 

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