Baseball has Scott Boras. Professional football has Drew Rosenhaus. College football has Jimmy Sexton, and Sexton has added a B1G client to his list. Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood has reportedly hired Sexton to be his agent at a critical time in his coaching career.
Sports Illustrated referred to Sexton as college football’s most powerful agent, and for good reason. Sexton represents Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn and UCLA’s Jim Mora among others. All are significant names at big time programs. With Rutgers entering the Big Ten, officially next week, the head man of the Scarlet Knights is thinking about his long-term future and stability as well.
“I would tell you that Jimmy Sexton doesn’t represent anyone that he doesn’t believe in,” Flood said in a story published by NJ.com. “I feel good about that. Again, I know he doesn’t necessarily need another client, so the fact that he wants to represent me, that was important to me.”
The timing is no coincidence either.
Flood enters the third year on a five-year contract, which is a key point in a head coach’s contract. If Rutgers struggles in the first year in the Big Ten, a change could be called for by Rutgers leaders. After all, Rutgers does not intend to join the Big Ten and become a disgrace on the field, and Flood has had some struggles at times since being named the head coach of the program. But if Rutgers can make some noise and show promise for things to come, Flood could be in line for a nice contract renegotiation at the end of the year. That often happens for coaches entering a new league, and with revenue shares expected to be bringing in plenty of extra resources for Rutgers by joining the Big Ten, the head football coach may be entitled to a bigger paycheck.