The teams that win
in October
make their real moves
in March.
34%
$2.1M
18mo
A Mid-Market Franchise
14 months
We were brought in after a third consecutive season ending within two games of the playoff line. The front office had been making roster decisions in isolation from cap modeling — extending veterans on declining production curves while letting cost-controlled young talent walk. The roster wasn't bad. The allocation logic was.
| Franchise Metric | Inherited Position | 18 Months Later | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Efficiency ($/Win) | $3.4M | $2.1M | −38% |
| Win-Share per $10M Payroll | 2.9 WS | 4.6 WS | +59% |
| Draft Capital Utilization | 41% | 78% | +37pp |
| Attendance Revenue (Annual) | $18.2M | $23.7M | +30% |
| Dead Cap Obligations | $11.4M | $2.8M | −75% |
| Standing at Season End | 11th of 15 | 4th of 15 | +7 spots |
The work began with a full payroll audit mapped against production metrics the organization had never formalized. We identified seven contracts representing $14.2M in dead or declining value. Over the following offseason, three were restructured, two were traded with draft capital attached, and the savings were redirected toward two ascending players on rookie deals. Attendance recovered in tandem with the standing improvement — not coincidentally.
A Power-5 Program
20 months
The athletic director came to us six weeks before the portal window opened. They had lost eleven scholarship players the prior year and couldn't explain why the exit interviews were so consistent: players felt undervalued and undersupported. The NIL collective existed in name only — a $1.2M pool distributed without strategy, without performance benchmarks, and without a retention philosophy. We rebuilt the architecture from the budget line up.
| Franchise Metric | Inherited Position | 18 Months Later | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer Portal Retention Rate | 31% | 74% | +43pp |
| NIL Collective Annual Pool | $1.2M | $4.8M | +300% |
| Recruiting Class National Rank | #68 | #22 | +46 spots |
| Revenue per Scholarship | $187K | $312K | +67% |
| Staff Turnover (Annual) | 6 of 14 | 1 of 14 | −83% |
| Athletic Dept. Operating Margin | −4.2% | +8.1% | +12.3pp |
The NIL restructure wasn't about spending more — it was about spending with intent. We designed a tiered compensation model tied to practice attendance, academic standing, and position value on the depth chart. The collective grew because donors understood, for the first time, exactly what their dollars were purchasing. Staff retention followed when coaches stopped feeling like they were recruiting against their own roster.
An Acquisition Group
26 months
The incoming ownership group had closed on the acquisition before they understood the full scope of what they'd purchased. The franchise was carrying a roster built for a competitive window that had already closed — eleven players over 30, a GM whose contract predated the new ownership, and a front office culture that had normalized losing. The board needed someone who could translate the balance sheet into basketball and the locker room back into an investment thesis.
| Franchise Metric | Inherited Position | 18 Months Later | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise Valuation | $312M | $487M | +56% |
| Revenue per Available Seat | $41 | $68 | +66% |
| Broadcast Rights Premium | Market rate | +22% above market | +22% |
| Front Office Headcount | 38 FTE | 29 FTE | −24% |
| Competitive Window Outlook | Rebuilding (3–5yr) | Contending (18mo) | −3.5yr |
| Ownership Group IRR (Proj.) | 6.2% | 14.8% | +8.6pp |
The first ninety days were entirely diagnostic. We produced a franchise audit that the board used to renegotiate three vendor contracts and restructure the GM's authority. The roster rebuild came second — not first. Organizations that lead with roster moves before fixing the decision-making infrastructure tend to repeat the same mistakes with different names on the jerseys. The valuation improvement reflected a market that could finally see a coherent direction. That's what we build: coherent direction.
The Competitive
Window Framework
Cap efficiency scoring matrix (6 variables)
Win-share projection model by position group
Transfer portal retention playbook
Ownership transition due diligence checklist
NIL collective structuring guide
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