Episode 6: Kelly Comarda • Here's How Business & CFB Intersect

To kick off Season 2 of Moneyballers, Kelly Comarda discusses his transition as a "volunteer" at the collective to a full-time position as Director of Roster Management at Tulane. He explains the unique structure of the team, the challenges faced by G5 schools, and the importance of being aggressive in NIL and recruitment strategies. Kelly discusses the need for a competitive compensation package that goes beyond just financial incentives, insights on the role of agents in college sports, and the importance of empathy in understanding the recruiting process for student-athletes.

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Our Takeaways:

• We have to do more with less at the G5 level.

• Aggression in NIL can mean being competitive in all aspects--not just sheer amount of money.

• "Compensation packages" can include quality playing time, because that "pays off".

• Agents can significantly impact a player's career trajectory, good and bad.

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Full Transcript

Luke Bogus (00:00)
Kelly from Tulane, how's it going man? Thanks four joining the podcast.

Kelly Comarda (00:03)
Hey, thanks four having me. Appreciate it.

Luke Bogus (00:04)
Yeah, four sure. I mean, I was really interested in reaching out to you because you've been in this space four a minute. You know it very, very well. Co-founded your collective Fear of the Wave. Now you're on staff as a director roster management. From your time at the collective versus now the time in the building, what about your day to day has changed? collective world versus, post-house era is coming up. I'm sure lots has changed. We would love to kind of hear in a little bit of time so far, what has been the biggest changes your day to day?

Kelly Comarda (00:28)
Well, everything's changed. I was a volunteer at the collective. We did everything basically as a hobby, as a volunteer, just to help the university. So, as far as being in the collective and being on staff, it's night and day. I was practicing law full time and just working in the collective at night and on the weekends and when I could sneak it in during the day. So, it's really been great to immerse myself in this world and

get a firsthand account of, you know, how the work at the collective affects the day-to-day of the team.

Luke Bogus (00:58)
Yeah, that's a really cool background too. a lot of times I feel the collective has some sort of a law background or business background. But, what's been really interesting is this transition that bringing those folks in-house with the team and specifically your structure. It's like you've head coach and you have an actual GM, Cole Heard, and your title is not GM. It is director of roster management. So, maybe like walk through like what are the different roles and responsibilities of you three that kind of make up this triangle?

Kelly Comarda (01:23)
Yeah, it's a little bit of a different setup than I think you're seeing at other schools. We kind of molded this to try to make it work four where we are, you know, and to play to our strengths. So, obviously Cole has been here the last year, year and a half. He is more focused on the traditional recruiting right now. So, Cole sets the recruiting board. Cole, deals with high school recruiting.

When we get to the portal time, he jumps in and helps with the portal. But, my main focus is where business and football intersect. So, negotiating contracts, managing budgets, allocating resources, stacking and watching kids four the portal that could be, could end up there and trying to do some of that leg work to take that pressure off of our recruiting staff. So, that's really where I fit in.

You know, Cole is the head of our department. He's the guy that's, setting the tone four what we want to do recruiting wise. And we both report to coach. It's almost like we're traveling on a parallel, parallel ground, just in different roles. kind of split up some of those responsibilities that you're seeing a general manager handle at a bigger school because he's got a bigger staff where our staff is smaller.

We're trying to split that role and make it to where we can both play to our strengths and provide the most value we can.

Luke Bogus (02:39)
I was just gonna say when you word it out like that, it's like, actually recruiting and being on the ground and building the big boards and talking I can't imagine slapping on all this stuff that is contract management, negotiating with agents, balancing the budgets, it makes total sense that it's two separate roles. You kind of mentioned that at other schools, they've kind of molded it into one. do you think that you would recommend a structure like yours? Or do you feel like it makes sense to split out somebody that is like the business side? I like that the intersection of business and

and the team is awesome, that's great way to phrase it. Do you feel like it's good to have those be kind of two separate or two separation of concerns?

Kelly Comarda (03:12)
It depends on, you know, the size of the staff and how many people you have to work underneath you. So, traditionally you have a general manager who may be more of a high level guy. If you're talking about pro sports and they don't get into the weeds a lot of times of the day to day scouting or the day to day watching practice film all day. At the college level, you're kind of asked to do more with less.

At the G5 level, it's even great. you place an even greater emphasis on the ability to do more with each individual person because you have fewer staff members. So, we've got a great staff here. We've got Cole, our general manager. We also have Kyle Schexnayder who's our director of recruiting, who is heavily involved in setting the strategy and the philosophy of who we're recruiting at a high school level. We've got two full time recruiting

specialist in Colton Leggett and Keith Domino. We have a director of on-campus recruiting Courtney Luquet and we have some students and graduate assistants who help us day to day. But, when you're talking about running this big of an operation, there are other schools that have 10, 15, sometimes 20 people working in their recruiting department. We're trying to do it with seven or eight. So,

we're trying to do the most with what we have and played our strengths. And this is just the way that it works four us now at a different school, a bigger school, let's say Oklahoma, LSU, Texas tech that may look different because they have the ability to hire more people. but, we're trying to figure out what works best four us. And so far, this is kind of what we've come up with.

Luke Bogus (04:44)
I guess that highlights that no matter the scale of the operation and no matter if you have 20 people on head counter two or seven or whatever it might be, it's like the tasks and the jobs to be done. The objectives have to remain the same. It's just like, how do you be scrappy enough to, you know, get the same outcomes of identifying talent and balancing the budget and, you know, playing moneyball in this new era? Like all that matters, like all the more. And of course, you're comparing it to the Oklahoma's, the LSU's like you mentioned who then they're comparing it to the

You know, the Falcons and the Titans and their 30 plus person operations in the front office. And so again, completely different scales, all the same goals. But, it's interesting when you highlighted that your goal is to punch above your weight, as a G5 trying to set yourself up to operate the rest of them, the best of them.

What did it take to kind of get the entire organization to have that mindset? Was it just very natural among the folks at Tulane to say like that, this is what we have to do is hire a director roster management. This is what we have to do is think about ourselves in this new era and intersection of business and sports. how did it come to be and how did like kind of the buy-in come to be four a G5 school?

Kelly Comarda (05:45)
Yeah, it's a little bit of an interesting story. So, I was here working with the collective from 2021 through 2024. And actually last spring I left and went to Houston when Coach Fritz went to Houston and I helped out in their collective there to break into the business full time. He gave me that opportunity. I'm very thankful four him and everything he's done four me. And it just so happened that around that time,

I was talking to Tulane as well about what the future looked like. You always have to try to be one step ahead. And I think that's what we did very well at the collective here is that we were ready to go when things changed. We were trying to anticipate the next move and we were ahead of the game most of the time. And it wasn't to the point where they needed to hire somebody

last spring, so I left and went to Houston and then this popped up kind of at the end of last year, at the end of 2024, and I came back. has been pretty aggressive in the NIL front. And I think that's how we've been able to have so much success recently and how we see the future of us continuing this because talk about this a lot. It's hard to get to the top

but it's even harder to stay there. So, if we want to continue to be at the top of this conference and continue to play four conference championships, we have to push the envelope in all aspects, including NIL, including the so-called revenue share. We've got to do the most we can to place ourselves on top of our peer institutions and our competitors.

Luke Bogus (07:19)
you mentioned too, we have to be aggressive in NIL, we have to be aggressive with rev-share. I feel like historically the word aggression has meant get more money, get a lot of money. What does aggression mean to Tulane? obviously, the more the better, but like, what are some other things you are doing to be aggressive? Of course, hiring somebody like you is one of them. Like, what are some other points of aggression that Tulane's taking advantage of?

Kelly Comarda (07:38)
You know, obviously we take full advantage of our educational opportunities here. It's a great school and a great city, in a really good conference and we play big opponents. this year we have three power four teams on our schedule. we're going to act as if we are a power four institution. We're going to try to push the envelope there and play as many good teams as we can play.

we're going to be competitive in compensation. Are we going to get to the level of power four schools? No, but we're going to do as much as we possibly can, to stay ahead of our conference mates and our peer institutions. So, it's about selling what we have. It's about pushing the envelope and trying to do the most we can on the compensation side, but

I always talk about it like this. there are two forms of currency in college athletics. Obviously there's the money, but snaps and quality snaps against quality opponents is what you really need if you want to play at the next level. And we have that to offer too. And so if you're talking to somebody who has a chance to go play at a powerful level, but maybe not be a starter and they may play

150 or 200 snaps, well, we can give you 600 against really good competition and we can showcase you. Like this year we have two defensive backs in the senior bowl. Only one other school in America can say the same thing. So, we are a place where you can come and showcase your talents at a high level and help you get to the level where you can actually make real life changing.

Luke Bogus (09:11)
Yes. I love that that's framed in the idea of like, that's the comp package. Like the comp package isn't just the dollar sign and the numbers that come behind it. Like there's so much more to offer beyond that. And you know, you may not be punching at the exact same level as some of those top schools that are in the CFP of last year but you can offer so much more than this pure dollar amount, whether that be Snaps, whether it be the educational benefits, whether it be

the other culture aspects of your institution. Do you feel like folks at the non-P5 level are leaning into that enough? Do you feel like that is the best? maybe walk me through when you think about building your comp package, is that how you're pitching it to recruit specifically is get tape so that then in the NFL you can take the next level or maybe some what are some of the other additives that you're adding to your comp package beyond just the dollar amount.

Kelly Comarda (09:56)
Yeah, look, and it's no secret. We had guys come here last year that portaled up to bigger places for a lot of money. And you can either shy away from that or downplay it, or you can lean into it. this is a place where right or wrong, people are looking at what our guys are doing. And sometimes that's going to lead to somebody taking our quarterback four a record breaking contract. That's going to happen. And you know what?

It's great four me. It's great four us because it shows it. What we have to offer is valuable. And we're not going to shy away from from that or any other part of this package. This is a great place to be. We want kids to be here. We want kids to feel excited about being here and want to spend all four or five years of their college experience here, but we're not going to shy away from, if you come here and you

find a way to go to the NFL, if you find a way to make life changing money somewhere else, look at the next guy. And the next guy that's hungry and wants to be here and buys into the team mentality. This is really become a year to year thing. And either you can shy away from it, run away from it, and it's going to come back and bite you, or you can lean into it, accept it, and try to find your way through it. And that's what we're doing.

Luke Bogus (11:06)
Absolutely. Yeah, love that mindset. Shifting gears a little bit to kind of looking to the future. Obviously, you mentioned, have your great staff all having those different layers of objectives that are very similar to the big boys. Do you feel like any of the objectives, your job changes July 1st and onwards? Or do you feel like you've done the legwork such that you are ready to rock for rev-share? Or are the things that rev-share is going to change about your job?

Kelly Comarda (11:28)
I think we did a really good job of molding what we're doing now to work for what's coming and everything has been done with an eye to the future. I think we're ready to go, whether, the house settlement as we're taping this is the hearing is today and knowing what I know about the legal system. I don't expect any clear cut path forward today. I think that

and even if or when the house settlement gets approved, you're going to see the next round of challenges and you've got to be ready for all of the different variables. And I think we've done a good job of mapping that out and we're ready to go and ready to pivot on a dime, whether, we go forward as planned or whether there's a shift and modification we're ready to adjust. So,

I think Coach Sumrall and the staff here and the administration has done a really good job of preparing four what is expected and also with what could happen if there are changes.

Luke Bogus (12:22)
And that's probably one underrated part too, is that when you have like a lean, nimble team, no matter what changes you guys are ready versus if you did have 15, 20, 25 staffs, staff where you're trying to move the Titanic versus kind of move the rowboat.

Kelly Comarda (12:34)
Yeah, that, and you know what, I think everybody on our staff provides a different perspective and set of skills and value. And I think part of my value having practiced law for 15 plus years is I can translate a lot of what's going on in the court system to the coaching staff or the other staff members here and tell them like, you're hearing this, but here are the different

steps that have to happen a settlement to be approved. I think people don't understand the basic part of this house settlement. A settlement is a compromise between two parties before a court. Right now you're talking about people who, the plaintiffs in the house settlement are people that have already played. There are people that played through a certain date, not the athletes going forward.

So, I think that's the key distinction where the court is only going to decide whether or not to end that disagreement between those two parties. They're not tasked with determining what happens in the future. That's a whole different fight. And so I think people are under the misconception that the house settlement is going to solve all our problems going into the future. It just takes care of the problems that happened in the past. From here on

That's a whole different ball game and a potentially a different set of issues that are going to continue to pop up. And I expect litigation into the future, unfortunately, until there's some kind of compromise that can last well into the future.

Luke Bogus (14:05)
Yeah, this is the starting line, the starting line of many, many laps to go. obviously if we had a lot more time, I'd love to talk about CBA. I'd love to talk about all those little pieces. One part, since you do have a legal past that I'd love to pick your brain on is this world of agents entering. there's a lot to think about there as far as it's great that athletes have the ability to outsource a lot of those things to folks who theoretically have the background of the chops to be able to negotiate

in the NFL, those folks are certified. We're not quite there yet in the college level, maybe from your like legal-ish perspective what percentage of folks, what percentage of agents do you work with? maybe like walk me through kind of the state of agents today and what is that like? And I'm sure that's a huge part of your job is dealing with those folks.

Kelly Comarda (14:46)
Yeah, it's about 50-50. You know, you can tell pretty much in the first two to three minutes of talking to somebody what their background is and whether or not they have the student-athletes' best interests in mind or whether they have a sufficient experience and background to actually be in that space. And it cuts both ways. It can be a blessing and it can be a curse. If you have an agent that has your best interest in mind,

It makes deals much easier to get done. If you've got somebody who's just a marketing guy who's just hitting kids up on Twitter and trying to sign them up and they're just looking four the most money possible, that's kind of where careers go to die. That's where you end up in a bad situation where you're not playing or you don't fit the system. And that can really be the end of your career, hiring the wrong guy.

You may make a little bit of money on the front end, but that might be the last trick you cash playing sports. And I think it's one of the big things that needs to come out of this litigation is some kind of, I don't know, litmus test or certification four agents to represent players because it's a real issue four some kids.

Some of are too naive to realize it, that this guy really doesn't have my best interest at heart. He's just going to sign me to a deal and he's never going to talk to me again. I've seen that happen. I've seen agents where on the flip side, where they've told players to take much less money to stay in a good situation. And it ends up really benefiting them in the long run where they get drafted or they go two or three rounds higher in the draft and it would have

if they've gone to a different situation. So, you know, I love the great ones and the bad ones just make things a lot harder. So, it's a mixed bag, but there are some really good ones out.

Luke Bogus (16:25)
I know we're reaching the end of the episode. I do want to hit on just a lighter note. I mean, in this space, like you're on all the time. You're working, I'm sure, 9 p.m. You get that text from the agent, close the deal by midnight. that stuff doesn't just happen in movies. It is the day to day. What do you do to try to escape all this? Are you a golfer? Is there anything that you try to do just to like shut your phone off?

Kelly Comarda (16:45)
No, the phone stays on. It's a 24-7 type of thing. And I'm actually dealing with this a little bit from both sides. I have a son who's a junior in high school about to be a senior and is going through recruiting right now. So, a lot of the time I would normally spend unwinding, I spend talking to him about what his process is like, how are things going and trying to play parent

four him and my other two boys. that's the time I get to be dad. it's fun, but it's also, I get to see both sides of this coin. Not necessarily from an NIL perspective or a rev-share perspective, just to see what kids are going through during the recruiting process and highs and lows and the toll it takes on the families. It's really given me a much better perspective of, and more empathy four what they're going through

and how much pressure they're under. it's pressure on both sides right now. I'm hoping and praying that he makes a decision sooner rather than later so we can put that behind us. But yeah, I spend time with my family. I try to make it back. They're actually still in Houston right now four my son to finish high school. He's going to finish next May. So, they're going to stay there at least through his football season.

So, I spend time going back and forth from Houston and just trying to spend time with them as much as possible.

Luke Bogus (17:59)
that's actually like such a good point that not that you didn't have empathy before, but what a way it's like stepping the shoes. I feel like everyone talks about the professionalization of all this stuff. And we jumped straight to contracts and incentives and all this crazy hardcore business stuff agents, but we do forget the fact that these are 16, 17 year old kids that are making the biggest decision of their life. And that's emotional. And you have more than just the kid thinking about

the money side of things, you have parents, you have so many other factors, and so it's easy to lose. And so I'm sure being on the other side makes you remember that.

Kelly Comarda (18:30)
It does. It does. It's been a nice slice of humble pie four me. I have to try to put myself in their shoes a little bit more. And this has helped me a lot to not only identify some of the issues they're going through, but to try to troubleshoot from my end. Here are the five, six, seven things we've got to questions we've got to answer and the ways we can make it easier on our perspective

student athletes to want to pick Tulane.

Luke Bogus (18:59)
Absolutely. Well, Kelly, I'll let you get back to it. portal's coming soon, so I'm sure there's a ton of prep to do. But, thanks four taking 25 minutes of your time four this. Very educational four me and hopefully the listeners out there. So, thank you. Awesome. Talk soon.

Kelly Comarda (19:09)
Thank you.

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