Kendrick Perkins Is Leaving ESPN To Become The General Manager Of Jackson State Men's Basketball

Kendrick Perkins is leaving his analyst role at ESPN to become the men's basketball general manager at Jackson State University, the former NBA center turned television personality confirmed to Shams Charania on Friday.

The move takes one of the most recognizable voices on NBA television and puts him in charge of building a college basketball program in the SWAC, the Southwestern Athletic Conference, at a historically Black university in Jackson, Mississippi.

The role of general manager in college basketball is a relatively new concept, born out of the NIL and transfer portal era that has made roster construction look more like a professional sports front office operation and less like a coaching staff calling recruits on the phone.

Programs now manage NIL collectives, negotiate with agents, track a constantly churning transfer portal and make decisions about roster investment that require someone thinking specifically about talent acquisition rather than coaching.

Jackson State is giving that responsibility to Perkins.

Perkins was the 27th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, selected by the Boston Celtics out of Beaumont, Texas, where he went straight to the NBA without attending college.

He played 14 seasons in the league, winning a championship with the 2008 Boston Celtics, before retiring and transitioning to television work with ESPN where he became a regular presence on NBA Today and other programming.

His opinions, delivered at full volume, with a directness that generates either devoted fans or strong reactions, have made him one of the more polarizing figures in sports media.

Jackson State has a basketball program that operates in a different world from the Power 4 schools Perkins spent his playing career watching from benches and arenas across the NBA.

The SWAC is a mid-major conference with smaller budgets, smaller rosters and smaller media footprints than the programs that dominate March Madness.

The NIL era has somewhat leveled the playing field by allowing schools like Jackson State to compete for players who would previously have looked only at larger programs.

Perkins's name recognition, network and understanding of what NBA-caliber talent looks like at the developmental level are presumably what Jackson State is purchasing with this hire.

No details about the financial terms of the arrangement or the specific scope of Perkins's responsibilities at Jackson State were disclosed in the announcement.