Duke Blue Devils Head Coach Jon Scheyer has hired Rachel Baker to serve as the General Manager of the men’s basketball program. The program has established this unique position to help the student-athletes “enhance their personal and professional skill sets, capitalize on strategic partnerships, including NIL opportunities, and work to support players in navigating the opportunities and challenges that come with being a student-athlete at the highest level”. Baker spent several years at Nike as an executive and spent time with the NBA and WNBA portions of the company and led the Elite Youth Basketball event.
Source: Duke’s Jon Scheyer is hiring former Nike executive Rachel Baker as the program’s General Manager.
Baker spent several years at Nike leading its Elite Youth Basketball event strategy as well as its WNBA and NBA athlete integration and Kevin Durant’s signature business.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 7, 2022
In a released statement from the University, Head Coach Jon Scheyer said the following: “The state of college basketball is growing and changing at an exponential rate. “Rachel is a one-of-a-kind talent with unique experience that will provide our players and their families with an unparalleled resource and partner as we navigate new frontiers of college basketball together. Through her work in the NBA and at Nike, she brings nearly a decade of expertise in the business of basketball to our staff, as well as her gifts in relationship and community building, leadership development, and experiential marketing. We can’t wait to see all she brings to our program in this newly-created position.”
Rachel Baker is undoubtedly a talented basketball mind and this will only enhance the life of student-athletes for the Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team. It seems likely that other programs will follow similar steps in the future.
