Duke's GM came from Nike with pre-existing agent contacts, does no coaching, and doesn't even attend practices. All she basically does is player evaluation, NIL evaluation, and communicating with players and their camps in a broad sense. She communicates with the assistants and team scouts for players from overseas, works with the NCAA for eligibility and requirements for foreign players, watches and evaluates mid major, D-2, and High School film. Suggests players to the coaching staff to take a look at after compiling a list of the best prospects available that fit Duke's system, along with a projected NIL valuation in the current market and which teams will be competitive in fighting for that player, wiggle room for negotiations, and relevant pitch information that will help close the deal. Rachel is invaluable to Duke, and it shows. They haven't exactly had trouble recruiting, convincing 5 stars to sit the bench and wait their turn, or figuring out NIL. You rarely see Duke not get the player they want and even more rarely see them as a hat on the table. The short of it, the GM tries to build the roster for the system the Head Coach wants, and suggests the players to the Coach that are actually a fit AND getable. Saves the staff tons of time recruiting someone who would never come here and losing out on guys who would while chasing after someone who isn't coming. The GM can also negotiate between agents, players, the staff and in our case JMI to hammer out the contract and take Pope out of the closer role.
All that to say, none of it fixes the JMI issues that elite basketball recruits seem to hate. Can't tell if it affects 4 stars or 3 stars because we don't have any of them targeted or signed either. Judging by Footballs success (with a GM by the way), the JMI deal doesn't affect players outside of that top 15 or so spots nearly as much.
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