San Diego State football general manager Caleb Davis makes first public comments

Davis was hired to be San Diego State's first even general manager in early March

San Diego State Aztecs football helmets. / Troy Babbitt-Imagn Images

San Diego State’s football general manager Caleb Davis officially joined the Aztec program earlier this month, to serve as the first ever general manager.

With the addition of Name, Image and Likeness partnerships in recent years and the start of the college football transfer portal, many programs across the country in football and basketball have elected to hire general managers.

San Diego State was able to hire Davis away from Notre Dame where he previously served as the Director of Recruiting for the Fighting Irish football program. The 25-year-old Davis worked with Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman at both Cincinnati and Notre Dame and spent one season at Troy. At Notre Dame, he worked directly under Chad Bowden, who now serves as USC’s football general manager.

“We’re ecstatic to add Caleb as our first-ever GM,” head coach Sean Lewis said of the hiring. “He’s an innovative, smart and forward-looking thinker, who understands how to build a championship program. He’s passionate about what he does, and we are going to lean on him to help us navigate this new landscape of college football.”

On Wednesday, Davis joined “Jon & Jim” on 760-AM to do his first interview since taking over at his new position. Here’s what he had to say.

ON HOW HE ENDED UP AT SAN DIEGO STATE

“Oh man you know it's a blessing first off because I mean to start off if your phone's not ringing you're probably not doing a good job so you know I've been blessed to be around a lot of really, really great people and mentors in my career but you know it just one thing leads to another I had certain people reach out and then before I knew it I was on a zoom interview meeting coach Lewis for the first time and then shoot I think four days later I was out on campus for an interview. We felt each other out kind of shared each other's visions and realized man it was a heck of a fit and shoot here we are. It's crazy, crazy how it goes but yeah it's a lot of sharing each other's vision, a lot of phone calls and just making sure we're all on the same page.”

ON A GENERAL MANAGER’S JOB

“So my whole pitch to this thing is as I've been hammering down exactly what a GM is and what it does is yeah the roster management, the evaluating talent, the bringing kids into the portal, kind of helping build this culture but from an outside approach is my goal here is you know as we transition into the Pac-12 ensure that San Diego State is a leader in every single aspect.”

“So, what that means is you know it's my job to you know yeah help fundraise to make sure we're taking care of our guys but also make sure that we have a shared vision of you know our goal isn't to just play in the Pac-12 and be there. But our goal is to be the leader in the Pac-12 and that was one of the most exciting things as I got here and day-to-day that looks different every single day whether it's sitting down and meeting with some of our top guys or going out practice and evaluating what we have and even looking into the transfer portal and high school recruiting. A lot of it is you know connecting all of these great people that we have within the university and making sure we've got a shared vision of you know being leaders as we transition here.”

 ON HIS MENTORS

“So probably the first person I've got to give a shout out to is Chad Bowden. He actually just recently got hired as the uh general manager at USC, was at Notre Dame before but he's a guy who I mean shoot he's one of my best friends in the world, has taught me a lot in this this realm over the years and then just the whole core of people that that have helped me develop into who I am. Chad's obviously a big piece, Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame is shoot like family to me, Mike Mickens even the (defensive backs) coach at Notre Dame, I could go on and on and on Max Stienecker who's now at USC but was at Wisconsin before like I've got a ton of you know it's kind of like that saying it takes a village a ton of people that that I can lean on in this space, ask questions bounce ideas off of and shoot it it'd probably take me this whole segment just to list off everyone that's helped me get here.”

ON WHAT HE’S BRINGING FROM NOTRE DAME

“The biggest thing is being Innovative and being a leader in the space and again whether that be the NIL program and budgeting and just forward thinking and being adaptable because college football has changed more in the last four years than it probably did the 40 years before that. “To be able to witness it firsthand, see the little tweaks that you know some people are scared to change and some people are frightened by it but if you can kind of see the changing landscape, adapt to it and again like I say everything I'll say is being a leader in the new Pac-12 like that's the goal is take every little you know curve that that comes along on the path and find a way to overcome the challenges and again be innovative, be a leader and be different in this space and find a way to continue to make San Diego State one of the most special programs. Not just around this area but in the country because it is a special program with special history, special tradition in a fantastic city and it's one of the few programs in the in the country where it does have unlimited potential when we hit on everything right.”

ON NOTRE DAME’S ADVERSITY IN 2024

“Now here's the thing to take from that too is like the other thing that people forget is we beat (Texas) A&M on the road week one. So we went in and not only did we just get a gut punch but we just went from the highest of highs we were looking forward to being the number one ranked team in the country at some point in the season and  all these different things and then that was a punch back to reality and it taught us as a program and the kids and the coaching staff and everyone how to handle success. Because I can go through the whole story but it kind of created a humble approach where from there though the culture of the coaching staff but really the culture of the locker room is what shined bright because anyone in the country could have could have taken that loss then like our season's over but to have those kids and the leaders in the locker room and I could list them off but it was a special group and it's really the kids that that built a culture of being able to overcome it and it's another reason why I was so intrigued with this job is like we've got some leaders and kids here that I know maybe last year didn't show it but we've got a heck of a culture that the kids at the top here are ones that that I believe have what it takes to be able to overcome a season like we had last year and really shoot like a rocket ship as this program continues to develop.”

ON THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE SAN DIEGO STATE PROGRAM 

“I would say three things. First off like I already hit on the kids we have in the in on the roster, there's a special group here right now. It's a special culture and from the top down like I believe in this group of kids but number two and probably the most important thing for me was coach Lewis and his vision. I actually had never known him before this process but he was one who every single person I asked spoke super highly of him and believed in him and I've kind of respected him from afar being from Cincinnati and seeing of his success at Kent State but then when I got here you know everything I do is I stack up again I go eight years back with Marcus Freeman so love him, love the way he runs things and as I went through the interview process every single thing that coach Lewis did reminded me of how Marcus would run his program and it was one where I took a step back I'm like man just everything that coach Lewis is doing I see a special approach to it. But then the last thing and really another one of the most important things is yeah, I believe we can have success here but it's a program in the new age of college football that thing can just go crazy here in a few years because like I said before like San Diego State has unlimited potential. There's only so many schools in the country that have an elite location, elite local talent, great academics. We've got shoot elite history, we've got three national championships in division two as we got three NFL Hall of Famers, and you go through the one thing that's ever held us back is the conference. And now as we transition into the Pac-12 again this goal in my mindset it's not hey now let's try to win some bowl games as we transition to Pac-12, no how are we going to slingshot this thing, be leaders and reach our full potential of a program because this thing when we hit it right I think we're going to look back three to five years from now and be like holy cow I didn't realize what San Diego State really could be.

ON INTIAL THOUGHTS ON THE ROSTER

“Oh man I'm fired up, I really am. The biggest thing isn't even necessarily the talent because when I came on my interview, I had already researched the team, researched the roster, just was the talent there and what did I think. But really what I've been evaluating more than anything is what's the energy and this reminds me of some of the special teams I've been around where the leaders in the room, the most talented guys at the top like they have this sense of family they have a sense of off the field connection but they also have a sense of competitiveness that it takes to win games. And it's been really really special to feel the energy of the coaching staff but really like I said the kids in the locker room they're the ones who set the culture. I can bring in a million kids but no matter what I do or no matter what any coach that like the kids in the locker room set this culture and we've got a chance to have a really special one.”

ON IMPRESSION OF SAN DIEGO

“Until my interview I had never even stepped foot in the city but man I love it, I love it. “Again, it's like I hit on, everything about San Diego State is it’s one of the rare places with unlimited potential and this city when we get it rolling right and this program, again I mean nothing beats living in San Diego. You can't tell me as we're recruiting a kid, they they'd rather live anywhere else than right here.”

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