Managers/Executives

[jgb191]

Does anybody know the roles of these other non-player related jobs like GM, CEO, VP, Director, Chairmen, etc?

Take my favorite NFL team the Texans for example:
Bob McNair was one of the co-founders/co-owners
Janice McNair is the Chairwoman (or Chairperson)
Daniel "Cal"  McNair is the CEO
Greg Grissom is the President
Andrew Brown is the Director of Football Operations
Nick Caserio is the General Manager
DeMeco Ryans is the Head Coach

Note:  Jack Esterby was assigned the role of Executive Vice President of the Texans until last year.

I could be partly wrong, but I believe that Nick Caserio's job is to manage the team's assets like players, draft picks, cash, etc.  DeMeco's job is to (A) lead the coaching staff, (B) use the players brought in by Nick, (C) oversee the team's strategy or game plan, and (D) manage the game situations (like substitutions, call timeouts, and call plays), and the owners' job is to write/sign the paychecks.

Other than those persons, I have absolutely no idea the job responsibilities of these other roles.  Anyone know?  Does every pro-sports team (at least in the US) have identical organizational structure?

[davewiecking]

I doubt you'll find 2 teams that have identical management structure. Particularly in the NFL, some coaches believe they should also be in charge of finding the players. The Head Coach of the Washington "˜ders (hardly an example of the right way to do things) has a General Manager who reports to him. The "˜ders also have 14 VPs (each responsible for a different facet, such as marketing, communications, ticket sales, stadium ops, IT, etc), in addition to a handful of Senior VPs. A CEO would generally be in charge of making or delegating day-to-day decisions; a Chair of the Board would run the body that makes longer-term decisions-the same as any major corporation. The Texans website lists far more management-type folks than just the 6 you mentioned.

[Takumi]

I'm still not sure what the difference between a president of baseball operations and a general manager is, but many teams either have both or are planning to have both.

[therocket]

I'm still not sure what the difference between a president of baseball operations and a general manager is, but many teams either have both or are planning to have both.

General Manager (GM): Builds the team
President of Baseball/Basketball Operations: What the GM does + PR and some other non-baseball related stuff. In clubs that employ both a GM and a President of Baseball Operations, the GM is second-in-command to the President of Baseball Operations.

[jgb191]

From what I think I understand about the Executive/Front Office roles (although I might still be partly incorrect):


-- Either the Director of Operations or the CEO sets the team's identity/culture:  offensively or defensively heavy, rebuilding or building to win now, etc.
-- The Talent Management staff evaluates and recommends the players that they believe can best fit the identity/culture.
-- The GM sets out to acquire those players recommended by those talent scouts.
-- The coaching staff utilizes those players acquired by the GM in the best way possible.
-- It's up to the players to prove the executives made the right decisions and that the implemented culture works.

The best analogy that I can think of is that (A) the Director/CEO determines what project to build, (B) the Talent scouts recommend the proper tools and parts needed to build the project, (C) The GM orders those tools/parts, (D) the coaching staff uses those tools/parts the best way to build the project, (E) the players follow the assembly instructions, and finally (F) the owner/chairman funds the entire project.  That would be my best guess.


Which leads me to another head-scratching question:  Who pays for it all?  Where does the owner/chairman get the cash/funds from?  Do the fans pay the players through ticket sales or buying merchandise?  And do the cash paid by the sponsors and endorsements also contribute towards the team salaries?  I admit I know very little about the business aspect of sports, which is why I am wondering about all this.

[NWI_Irish96]

Does anybody know the roles of these other non-player related jobs like GM, CEO, VP, Director, Chairmen, etc?

Take my favorite NFL team the Texans for example:

Bob McNair was one of the co-founders/co-owners
Janice McNair is the Chairwoman (or Chairperson)
The chairperson is the head of the Board of trustees, the group ultimately responsible for both the business and athletic operations of the franchise. The chairperson is or is a designee of the principal owner.

Daniel "Cal"  McNair is the CEO
Greg Grissom is the President
These two roles seem redundant to me. The CEO/President is the person designated by (and usually a member of) the board to run the day to day operations of the team. This person would be primarily responsible for hiring the DFO and the GM, and also responsible for the business aspects of the franchise

Andrew Brown is the Director of Football Operations
The DFO directly oversees the GM but also runs the athletic-related business operations.

Nick Caserio is the General Manager
GM is the person responsible for assembling personnel, both coaches and players.

DeMeco Ryans is the Head Coach
Self-explanatory--the primary coach of the team

[Henry]

I remember the glory years of the Bulls, when the late Jerry Krause was their GM and Phil Jackson their head coach. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf made a huge mistake blowing up the team after the Last Dance season of 1997-98.

[jgb191]

The San Antonio Spurs have a very interesting organizational chart.  Gregg Popovich is both the President and Head Coach; he also held the title of GM and Director of Basketball Operations along the way, so he's done practically everything except playing and owning the team.  Gregg handed his role of GM to RC Buford about a couple decades ago.  RC was promoted to CEO of the Spurs just a few years ago, and Brian Wright is now the GM.

The history between Gregg and RC was quite interesting.  RC reported to Gregg when they were Assistant and Head coaches respectively.  Then RC was above Gregg when RC was the GM.  Then Gregg was back above RC after Gregg was promoted to President, and now RC is back above as the CEO.