GM Marc Votteler explains how Mississippi State navigating new era

Marc Votteler breaks down how Mississippi State is applying NFL-style strategies to manage its player payments and roster.

Mississippi State Fans during the game between the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

It’s not just fans and other media members who learn how the college sports landscape has shifted on a particular day. College football general managers learn news that way too, including Mississippi State’s GM.

“It's funny,” Marc Votteler said Tuesday. “You get on Twitter, or X now — whatever you want to call it — and just find out the new news and what the new executive order is, who's the new oversight committee, whatever it is.”

Votteler is the man leading the Bulldogs into the new era of revenue sharing, figuring out the best path(s) forward, dealing with agents as well as a lot of recruiting and player retention. Some parts of the job are familiar, while others are new.

“People have been doing similar stuff to this for years,” Votteler said. “It's just now you add the rev share and the payments and all that in there. But really roster management, high school recruiting, all that is part of it.”

One of the newest parts of the job is how to spend the revenue sharing. Part of the House vs. NCAA settlement was it limits each school $20.5 million in revenue that can be paid to players (so, basically, a salary cap). Voteller explained how Mississippi State is deciding how to split up the $20.5 million.

“Every school has that $20.5 million and then you divvied up by sports and so you have your number,” he said. “Ten I kind of went through NFL just because it's so new to college, how they've kind of broken down their position groups in years past just to get a kind of a baseline for it.”

Following a similar model to NFL teams is a logical strategy because while there are some differences between NFL and college football, some of the “salary cap” principles remain the same.

“If you have a really good quarterback, you need to pay to keep him,” he said. “You then kind of got to adjust other places to make it work.”

A major difference is in roster sizes. NFL rosters are limited to 53 players while colleges have 105. But Voteller was able to see how some of best NFL teams spread around their money to different position groups.

What percentage of a team’s cap was spent on quarterbacks? Offensive line? Defensive backs? Kickers and punters? Answering those types of questions provided Voteller with at least a baseline starting point to figure out to divide up Mississippi State’s $20.5 million. But he also acknowledged each year will be a little different.

“You're not always going to be in those [ranges], he said. “If you have a bunch of seniors maybe you're top heavy in a position that year. We want to stay between these percentages for each position to kind of just give you a range to work with.”

Along with finding how news on social media, Voteller also shares the same sentiment as fans: hoping the changes are close to be doing.

“Man, I hope so. I hope so. I think we're close,” Voteller said. “I think every offseason you kind of get a little bit closer to it. I'm hoping within the next three to five years we do have it.”