The Kansas athletic department on Friday morning announced that it has hired Sam Strantz as its executive director of front office strategy and operations, a high-level position in which Strantz will oversee athlete compensation via revenue sharing and name, image and likeness payments.

Strantz most recently served as the senior team counsel for the NBA’s Houston Rockets. He has an undergraduate degree from Memphis and a law degree from Tennessee, and previously worked for the law firm Baker Donelson and the company Sling TV.

In this newly created role, he will report directly to athletic director Travis Goff. According to a job posting reviewed by the Journal-World in June, he will be responsible for working closely with KU football general manager Rob Ianello and KU men’s and women’s basketball personnel as part of “integrating football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and broader athletics resource strategies into one cohesive operational model.”

“Our success in college athletics will depend on our ability to think differently and challenge ourselves in ways we never have before,” Goff said in a press release. “As we began this search, our goal was to find an elite collaborator who could draw on his previous experiences and forward-thinking mindset to help transform the way we operate as a department.

“I believe we found that–and much more–in Sam. He brings the tools, skills, and vision we need in this role, while also being an ideal fit for the culture and fabric we have built within our department. I am confident he will be a tremendous asset to all our programs and play an important role in our continued success.”

Strantz was with the Rockets for almost five years, and over the past two years as senior team counsel was involved with such responsibilities as drafting and negotiating contracts and interpreting the collective bargaining agreement, essentially providing legal perspective and support to the team’s front office.

“I’m deeply grateful to Travis Goff, his leadership cabinet, and the coaching staffs for the opportunity to help build a disciplined, best-in-class front office for one of the premier brands in college athletics,” Strantz said in part in the release. “Kansas has the history, ambition, and elite personnel to compete at the highest level in the revenue-share and NIL era. I couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

photo by: Kansas Athletics

Sam Strantz