The Ohio State football program does as good of a job as anyone in the country at identifying talent. Part of the reason they are so good is because of the talent they are able to identify in recruiting. They have signed a top-five recruiting class in every season under Ryan Day.
Day does a good job of landing those players once they identify those players. The man who is mostly in charge of doing that is Mark Pantoni. Pantoni has been the general manager of the Buckeyes for quite a while, going back to the Urban Meyer era.
Pantoni has done a great job of not just figuring out the five-star players that the Buckeyes should go after but also the three and four-star prospects who are less heralded. The Ohio State Buckeyes have now rewarded Pantoni for his work by making him one of the highest-paid GMs in the sport.
The Ohio State football team gives Mark Pantoni a big raise
While the numbers on Pantoni's new deal were not immediately available, it was reported that he will be among the highest-paid GMs in college football. It's something that he certainly deserves, especially as the Buckeyes come off a national championship.
Ohio State is hoping that Pantoni will keep doing his job just as he has for the last decade or so. This deal will ensure that he will be doing that for the next few years, too. Pantoni was really one of the first general managers in college football, a job that is now commonplace.
Not only does Pantoni identify talent, but he helps facilitate NIL deals as well. As NIL has taken over college football, GMs have become much more important. The Ohio State football team certainly understands that, and they want to reward Pantoni for what he's done.