Ohio State is in the process of signing general manager Mark Pantoni to a multi-year contract extension, sources confirmed to FootballScoop on Wednesday. On3 first reported the news.
While financial terms were not disclosed, though it's expected to make him one of the highest-paid personnel executives in the sport. North Carolina's Michael Lombardi is believed to be college football's highest-paid GM at $1.5 million, while USC's Chad Bowden deal is worth approximately $1 million annually, FootballScoop's John Brice reported back in January. Alabama's Courtney Morgan was believed to be the highest-paid general manager as recently as December at $775,000 a year.
Pantoni got in on the ground floor of Urban Meyer's Florida tenure and helped build two national championship rosters as a young professional in the burgeoning recruiting/personnel space. He remained at Florida following Meyer's 2010 departure, then joined him at Ohio State in 2012. Ohio State has ranked among the top 10 nationally in recruiting every year since, except for 2019. Whereas personnel was often a one-man band until recently, Pantoni now directs of seven in recruiting, personnel, or high school relations.
Of course, college football talent acquisition has evolved well beyond high school recruiting in recent years, and Pantoni has positioned Ohio State at the forefront of the new frontier. The 2024 season was a master-class in roster building, as Ohio State retained key veterans like Jack Sawyer, Emeka Egbuka and TreVeyon Henderson, secured its present and future by nabbing Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins, Caleb Downs and Julian Sayin in the transfer portal, and still had enough left over to sign the nation's No. 5 recruiting class, highlighted by No. 1 recruit Jeremiah Smith. (It helps to have a lot of money to spend.)
In building the 2026 class, Ohio State is looking to run its streak of consecutive top-5 classes to seven.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.