By Kyle Golik
So far this offseason, many fans have seen seismic announcements in Happy Valley. With departures of Tom Allen (Clemson) and Ja’Juan Seider (Notre Dame) and arrivals of Jim Knowles (via Ohio State) and Stan Drayton (former Temple head coach). The biggest announcement might be flying under the radar for many Penn State fans.
Penn State recently made the decision to make Aeneas Hawkins its assistant director of advancement and revenue sharing on March 24. Hawkins was a defensive lineman for Penn State between 2018-2021.
Hawkins was forced to medically retire due to injuries but seemed to be ahead of the curve as NIL was in its infancy. Hawkins teamed with former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford to create and manage a collective called “Limitless.”
We're excited to welcome another letterman back to Happy Valley!#WeAre x @AeneasHawkins pic.twitter.com/QDQgfAZ5jE
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) March 24, 2025
As Hawkins evolved in the ever changing NIL landscape, he shifted to the director of Young Money APAA Sports. In that role he was tasked with college football operations and media relations, working as an agent on the front lines of the transfer portal.
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“A lot of times the discussions of the rev share and the collective are kind of lumped into each other. Like, you’re having a discussion around the same time,” Hawkins told StateCollege.com in December. “There are even schools that, when they make that offer, they may give you the big overarching number when you combine the collective and the revenue share.”
Penn State has foreshadowed this hire over the past year.
Head coach James Franklin began outlining the possibility during his coach’s show last season.
“What we’re looking in this next generation of college football, with revenue sharing and those things coming, is trying to get really a specific contract and money [person], an accountant, somebody who maybe has a background working in the NFL and is maybe a No. 2 or a No. 3 in the NFL to the general manager,” Franklin said on the show. “And who maybe has got a Penn State connection or Pennsylvania connection who would love to be working in this role. That’s the next step for us.”
The vision continued to mold under current general manager Andy Frank, who said on National Signing Day, “I think that we will move forward in that regard here over the course of the next several months, I don’t know when that will exactly take place. But I think we are interested in someone who could have relationships with agents, who knows how to deal with contracts, who knows how to deal with the negotiations. If you look at NFL organizations, typically, they’ve got one, two, three or four people in the salary cap world. Those folks will help with those negotiations. Obviously coach [Franklin], myself, the whole staff will be involved in how we allocate the resources. But I think having someone who has some familiarity with with contracts, with talking to agents [is important].”
Aiding Hawkins will be current recruiting coordinator Alan Zemaitis. Zemaitis commented during the early signing day period about the importance of contracts and dealing with agents.
“You feel like, in some recruiting situations, that you talk to [agents] more than you talk to the actual parents,” he said.
With the Hawkins addition it seems the power structure in Happy Valley will be with Pat Kraft as Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics will be CEO of all sports, Franklin as head coach is the CEO of football, Frank will maintain in his general manager duties but will only have a concentration on personnel and recruitment aspects leaning on Hawkins and Zemaitis to be the leads on contracts and recruiting itself.
Nationally, Penn State is beginning to be compared to a lot of other universities as everyone is trying to figure out the new wrinkles in an ever-changing sport. Each university has taken different routes to how they organize their football programs.
Bill Belichick essentially brought in loyal lieutenants in his administration to operate the North Carolina background with NFL pedigree—most notably Michael Lombardi. Oklahoma, as it continues to rebuild around Brent Venables, has flanked him with Randall Stephenson in an advisory role. Stephenson is a former CEO of AT&T. Recently, the Sooners tabbed Jim Nagy as their football general manager. Nagy previously served as the executive director of the Senior Bowl.
Penn State is taking a chance on Hawkins in this new critical role in managing the football program. Hawkins may not have the credentials like the others mentioned above, but he was at the forefront of this, building a reputation that delivered results.
While Penn State may not have a traditional general manager like many other schools have, they are starting out with Frank, Zemaitis and Hawkins to organize the personnel.
Kraft said remains open that an overall general manager may be in Penn State’s future.
“It’s not like we just actively have not hired one. We continue to talk to a lot of people,” Kraft said. “As this is evolving, a lot of work in the building has been done, I think, really well. But I would not put it past James and us to have a GM at some point.”
