Florida Gators running back Jadan Baugh (13) dives across the goal line for touchdown but it was called back during the second half at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL on Friday, December 20, 2024 in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. The Gators defeated Tulane 33-8.
Florida Gators running back Jadan Baugh (13) dives across the goal line for touchdown but it was called back during the second half at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL on Friday, December 20, 2024 in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. The Gators defeated Tulane 33-8. [
GAINESVILLE, Fla.– The Florida Gators have reportedly made a major addition to its football front office by hiring Ben Elsner as its Director of Football Strategy.
247 Sports’ Matt Zenitz was first to report Florida targeting Elsner with On3’s Zach Abolverdi confirming his position, which is believed to be the No. 2 role in the Gators’ front office.
On Wednesday, head coach Billy Napier updated Florida’s standing in a search for a general manager-like position to run its football-focused front office, a position the Gators previously held multiple interviews for.
“We’re trying to wrap that up,” he said. “I think we’re close. Obviously a very important position. It really will be a department more than a position. You’ll see we’re going to hire multiple people. I think that one of those hires is pretty close to being done and then I think the others are right around the corner as well. Very hopeful we’ll get that done here shortly.”
Regarding Elsner’s specific role as the Director of Football Strategy, Napier explained the role is a “little more contracts, caps, and analytics” as college football heads towards a revenue share model.
“We’re a year away from having a lot of data both in the rev share space and in the marketing/endorsement space,” he said. “We’re getting ready to kind of stabilize the market to some degree because we’re going to be using comps to reference.”
Elsner himself joins Florida after previously being the Chief of Staff for the 33rd Team, a football analytics website.
