The CFB Hot 25 rankings: The most influential (behind-the-scenes) people in the sport, from media executives to labor lawyers

We included conference commissioners but not coaches or ADs

Welcome to the Hotline’s first Hot 25 ranking, a look at the 25 most influential people in college football with a twist.

Behind the scenes, these are the key players. With one exception, athletic directors, coaches, players, and front-facing media members were not considered.

Did we leave anyone out? Probably.

Will readers object to the order? Assuredly.

The goal of this exercise is not to forge consensus, but to pull back the curtain on the sport’s complex, layered machinery and identify the people and issues that shape the terrain.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Sharp criticism? Please contact me at pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Jennifer Abruzzo, NLRB general counsel; Trace Armstrong, Athletes First agent; Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of services; Jim Cavale, Athletes.org founder; Brian Davis, California Power Athletes founder; Bill Hancock, CFP executive director; Mark and Kym Hilinski, Hilinski’s Hope; Phil Knight, Nike co-founder; Dan Margulis, ESPN senior director for programming (college sports); Chris Murphy, U.S. senator

1. Greg Sankey Title: SEC commissioner

Impact: Sankey has enormous clout in the College Football Playoff debate and recently co-chaired the NCAA transformation committee, in addition to his deft oversight of the powerhouse football conference — given the personalities and passion involved, it could be a weekly circus in lesser hands — and has recently co-chaired the NCAA transformation committee. Not everyone in college sports agrees with Sankey on everything, but we have yet to meet anyone who does not admire his strategic acumen, management style, and interpersonal skills.

2. Mark Silverman

Title: Fox Sports president and COO Impact: Silverman is the president and COO of Fox Sports, which owns a majority stake in the Big Ten Network, which controls the Big Ten’s media rights. In other words, he is financially responsible for the Big Ten expansion decisions that have reshaped college sports. According to the Sports Business Journal, Silverman “was in the room” during rival network pitches last year. If that isn’t complete command of the Big Ten behemoth at the highest level, we don’t know what is.

3. Burke Magnus Title: ESPN president of content Impact: In case there was any doubt, the two-year realignment wave has definitively identified the two college football grandmasters: ESPN and Fox are your names. (Alternatively, as Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told the Columbus Dispatch, “this is all about television partnerships.” I wouldn’t say they run things, but they are a significant partner. They’re a valuable partner.”) Magnus has been a major player for millennia and is well known for his industry knowledge. Prior to taking on his current role, he oversaw ESPN’s acquisitions and programming teams.
4. Len Perna and Chad Chatlos Titles: TurnkeyZRG executives Impact: Perna is the CEO of the executive search behemoth, while Chatlos, who joined from Ventura Partners a few years ago, oversees the college operation. Turnkey has dominated the placement process at the highest levels of the sport, leading searches for the NCAA president as well as the commissioners of the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and Pac-12. Is there a trend (for better or worse) toward bringing outsiders into key roles in college sports? It all begins with Turnkey.
5. Mark Keenum Title: Mississippi State president; chair of the College Football Playoff board of managers Impact: When the commissioners couldn’t agree on playoff expansion, Keenum stepped in, rallied support from his fellow presidents, and pushed the 12-team format through last fall. Readers may think his ranking is a little high, but the Hotline believes CFP expansion will have a greater impact on the sport than any event since the 1984 Supreme Court ruling that gave conferences control of their media rights — even more than the implementation of the four-team playoff a decade ago. And Keenum bears the brunt of the blame.
6. Tony Petitti Title: Big Ten commissioner Impact: Petitti has only been on the job for three months, but he oversaw the West Coast raid (Washington and Oregon) that devastated the Pac-12. (To that end, he required Fox’s money as well as the presidents’ approval.) We expect his influence on the sport to grow in the coming months, with the Big Ten and SEC reshaping the playoff format to meet their needs, and his ranking on next year’s Hot 25 list to rise.
7. Patti Phillips Title: CEO of Women Leaders in College Sports

Impact: Phillips is possibly the most influential figure in college sports that you’ve never heard of. During her 13 years as WLCS president, Phillips has worked to increase the number of women in key executive positions (such as athletic directors) across the country. Men continue to dominate the sport; without Phillips and her organization, that imbalance would be even more pronounced.

8. Jeffrey Kessler and Steve Berman Title: Sports labor attorneys Impact: Kessler has an antitrust background, while Berman specializes in class actions. They work for different companies but joined forces in the courtroom to torch the NCAA with the 2021 Alston ruling, in which the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for upending the amateur economic model. (Do you recall Brett Kavanaugh’s scathing concurrence?) That wasn’t their only victory over the NCAA, and the dynamic duo is working on another antitrust case that will seek millions of dollars in damages for former athletes.
9. Brett Yormark Title: Big 12 commissioner

Impact: In his 13 months on the job, Yormark has been a dynamic force, securing the Big 12’s media deal, orchestrating the early exits of Texas and Oklahoma, and fortifying the conference’s future with the Four Corners schools (Arizona, ASU, Colorado, and Utah). We’re not sure how long he’ll be around — his background is in professional sports and entertainment — but Yormark’s legacy would be secure even if he left college sports today. Also, impressive.

10. Jim Phillips Title: ACC commissioner Impact: Phillips has had to navigate a tumultuous situation in which the ACC’s long grant-of-rights agreement (until 2036) clashed with the revenue demands of its top football schools — with Florida State’s dirty laundry on display to the world. As of this writing, the ACC had not officially added Stanford, Cal, or SMU, making any conclusions about Phillips’ impact premature.
11. Jimmy Sexton Title: Sports agent for Creative Artist Agency Impact: If Alabama’s Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart were his only clients, Sexton would make our list. Unfortunately, he has many others, and his masterful manipulation of the system has fueled the escalation of coaching salaries, which is partly to blame for the momentum behind player compensation. After all, if the coaches earn $8 million or more per year, shouldn’t the labor be compensated?
12. Karen Brodkin and Hillary Mandel Brodkin’s title: Co-head of WME sports Mandel holds the position of Executive Vice President of IMG Media Impact: Brodkin and Mandel form a formidable media consulting partnership that has recently had a significant impact on the sport. They advised the Big Ten on its $1 billion deal last summer, then assisted the Big 12 in renegotiating its contract renewals with ESPN and Fox in the fall. (Note: Endeavor owns IMG and WME.)
13. Ramogi Huma Title: Executive director of National College Players Association Impact: The former UCLA linebacker is a leading advocate for player rights who helped pass legislation in California governing name, image, and likeness. In addition, he is heavily involved in the National Labor Relations Board complaint against USC, the Pac-12, and the NCAA.
14. Alan Gold Title: Head of sports media at Evolution Media Capital Impact: Gold and his former partner, Nick Khan (now CEO of WWE), provided the strategic advice that led the SEC to shift its ‘Game of the Week’ package from CBS to ESPN, effectively tying the conference and the network together into the 2030s. Gold’s inclusion in the Hot 25 is a result of his absence from the recent big deals (Big Ten and Big 12). Consider this: Sankey could have hired anyone; he chose Gold.
15. Charlie Baker Title: NCAA president

Impact: NCAA’s head honcho is only ranked 15th on the Hot 25 list reflects the NCAA’s limited role in college football. (It manages the calendar and the game rules, but not much else.) Having said that, Baker’s work with Congress will be critical in developing a viable economic model for the sport (NIL, revenue sharing, player employment status, etc.).

16. Mike Aresco Title: American Athletic Conference commissioner Impact: Aresco’s role as the unofficial voice (and soul) of the little guys in a sport dominated by blue bloods and behemoths is secondary to his role as the 14-team (for now) conference leader. Nobody has fought as hard or as effectively for the Group of Five as Aresco.
17. Brett Goetz Title: Founder of the South Florida Express

Impact: Unfamiliar with the Express? It was the country’s first true (traveling) 7-on-7 program and remains one of the most powerful, with alumni including Amari Cooper, Geno Smith, Ryan Shazier, Asante Samuel Jr., Teddy Bridgewater, and Devin Bush. And Goetz has been running the operation for nearly two decades, making him a key figure in shaping the recruiting industry.

18. Richard McCullough Title: Florida State president

Impact: In recent months, McCullough has played a significant role in shaping the sport. The ACC might not have seriously considered expanding to the West Coast had it not been for Florida State’s public expressions of frustration and internal applications of pressure. If the Atlantic Coast returns to normalcy, McCullough’s role may be reduced in the future. But, for the time being, his influence on the sport is undeniable.

19. Gloria Nevarez Title: Mountain West commissioner

Impact: After only eight months on the job, Nevarez has been given a significant opportunity to shape the structure of the sport in the western third of the country following the collapse of the Pac-12. In the event that her league and the so-called ‘Pac-2’ merged, Nevarez would likely preside over 11% of the FBS schools.

20. Mike Locksley Title: Maryland head coach Impact: As the only coach or athletic director on the list, Locksley deserves to be included because he founded the National Association of Minority Football Coaches, which is “dedicated to preparing, promoting, and producing minority coaches at all levels of football.” (The website can be found here.) Few issues are more pressing than increasing diversity in coaching ranks, from high school to NFL.
21. Carrie Cecil Title: CEO of ANACHEL

Impact: Cecil is an expert in crisis communication. Needless to say, there are numerous opportunities for that knowledge in college football. Her clients have included the Big 12 and Pac-12, as well as former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, who hired Cecil after he botched the conference’s COVID shutdown in the summer of 2020.

22. Mike Caspino Title: NIL attorney Impact: The amorphous world of name, image, and likeness is dominated by no single person or entity — each school has at least one collective dispensing cash and offering opportunities. Consider Caspino a stand-in for the independent attorneys and advisors who assist in the deal-making process. After all, he allegedly played a role in two of the most well-known NIL cases, involving quarterbacks Jaden Rashada (Florida, then Arizona State) and Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee).
23. AJ Maestas Title: CEO of Navigate

Impact: College football has never been more profitable, and business decisions are frequently based on the audience, engagement, and sponsorship data provided by Maestas’ firm. His clients have included ESPN, the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and the MAC over the years. (Disclosure: Navigate researchers collaborated with the Hotline on several content projects, most of which were completed in the late 2010s and one in 2022.)

24. George Kliavkoff Title: Pac-12 commissioner Impact: Kliavkoff presided over the demise of a 108-year-old college sports institution, which was largely due to his misreading of internal dynamics and the broader media landscape. Nonetheless, as the football season begins, he remains in charge of the day-to-day operations of a Power Five conference. And that means something.
25. Matt Holt Title: CEO of U.S. Integrity

Impact: Holt’s company employs sophisticated algorithms to detect betting irregularities, serving as the first line of defense against game fixing by athletes, coaches, and officials/referees. U.S. Integrity works on behalf of the SEC, Pac-12, Big 12, and other conferences, and its importance will grow exponentially as wagering — particularly mobile wagering — becomes more common.