As college football programs across the country try to stay ahead of the curve in an ever-changing landscape, and important hire at Nebraska was made official Tuesday.

Pat Stewart is Matt Rhule's new general manager.

The hire, which was first reported in late February, comes during a time of great change in college athletics as football programs move closer to an NFL model, complete with front offices.

With the transfer portal, NIL, revenue sharing and everything else head coaches need to account for, GMs are becoming a necessity for programs serious about competing for championships.

Stewart is one of the latest high-profile GM hires in college football, and they're getting paid.

Brent Venables hired former Senior Bowl executive director, Jim Nagy, to be Oklahoma's GM. Nagy signed a three-year contract worth $750,000 in 2025, $850,000 in 2026 and $950,000 in 2027, according to The Oklahoman.

Lincoln Riley hired Chad Bowden away from Notre Dame to be USC's GM and gave him a contract around $1 million, according to Front Office Sports.

Notre Dame was close to poaching one of the best in the college football personnel space, Texas Tech GM James Blanchard, who was hired by Rhule at Baylor, but Blanchard stayed in Lubbock — and got a new contract worth $1.575 million over three years as a thank you from the Red Raiders.

Bill Belichick hired longtime NFL executive Michael Lombardi as his GM at North Carolina, and Lombardi will get $1.5 million each season.

Inside Nebraska has not yet received Stewart's contract with Nebraska following a request, but a contract being worth close to or even over $1 million would be a good guess to make.

Stewart comes to Nebraska from the New England Patriots, where he spent the past two seasons as the the director of pro personnel.

Rhule has a history with Stewart. The two were on the same staffs at Western Carolina and Temple. When Rhule was the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, he hired Stewart to be his Director of Player Personnel in 2020. Stewart was then elevated to Vice President of Player Personnel for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Rhule doesn't consider this a buddy hire. Rather, the coach understands what kind of job Stewart can do in this role because he's seen it with his own eyes before.

"I've worked with him twice before, which, when I say that, that's not friendship, that's knowing how adaptable and versatile he is," Rhule said.

Today's personnel space in college football is shifting dramatically. No one quite knows where it will ultimately go or land. It's ever-shifting, and ever-frustrating for head coaches trying to put together rosters that win football games.

So hiring smart people with backgrounds in personnel is becoming more important than ever before. Though he hasn't worked in college football since 2006, Stewart's expertise fits what Rhule was looking for.

The way Rhule sees it, this was a move to help Nebraska be prepared for the future. As college football changes, and evaluation, acquisition, roster retention and finances are all part of the game now, Rhule believes Stewart is the right man for the job.

"If you're in the NFL, there's really two grading scales; the Patriots, the Belichick scale being one, which really takes into account how you value different positions as they relate to others," Rhule said. "Pat's always been really a difference maker, I think, in thinking about that, talking about that."

Nebraska's grading scale and what it will be looking at with transfers will come from Stewart. As for the high school recruiting, Rhule said there won't be much change.

"We'll still stay with the same beliefs we have with high school players in terms of traits and certain things. More developmental," Rhule said.

The addition of Stewart also means there has been some shuffling around in the recruiting department. Keith Williams, who started off as assistant director of player personnel in 2022 before being promoted to director of player personnel, will help Stewart on the high school recruiting side.

"I think Keith Williams has done a phenomenal job for us," Rhule said. "Keith has continued to rise in the organization, and really, Pat's weakness will be the recruitment piece — you don't really recruit in the NFL."

Williams, as well as Director of Football Relations Troy Vincent and Director of Recruiting Operations Avery Gossett, will continue in the recruiting department.

Rhule's previous general manager, Sean Padden, will also have a new role in the program. According to a news release from Nebraska Athletics, Padden's new title will be Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Intelligence.

According to a news release from Nebraska Athletics, Padden's new focus will be on cap analysis and compensation trends, stakeholder engagement, contract negotiations, data analytics leadership, collaboration and implementations and project management.

"I think Sean Padden has done really, really, really, a phenomenal job in the three years," Rhule said. "We've had top-25 classes. We had a top-10 portal class. And this was kind of precipitated by him kind of wanting to move into a different space. Wanting, really, to stay more in player finance, wanting to be more in analytics, and a commitment by us just to kind of look at personnel departments and recruiting departments, and try to take it to a whole other level, which I think you're seeing across the board in college football."

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