Randy Smith: Curry Named Assistant G.M. At Davidson

I never really thought about schools needing a general manager for their athletic departments. That's what athletic directors do don't they? Radio and TV stations need general managers, so do professional sports teams and other businesses but the recent trend in college athletics is to hire a G.M. for your school and I'm not talking about every sport....just one. Davidson College in Charlotte, NC announced this morning that the school's most famous alum was realigning with the Wildcats as assistant G.M. for men's and women's basketball. Steph Curry who blistered the nets at McKenzie Arena as well as every other gym he ever played in, joins current G.M. Austin Buntz. Curry also becomes the first active pro sports star to ever sign an administrative deal with a college program.

Curry, who played three seasons for Davidson beginning in 2006, has been called the greatest three-point shooter ever. He recently scored his 25,000th NBA point and he has spent sixteen seasons playing for the Golden State Warriors leading them to four NBA Championships. Obviously his duties with Davidson will be limited but he seems to be looking forward to a new challenge. " The Davidson experience is top-notch, " said Curry. " My journey from when I got to Davidson in 2006, to now, demonstrated that I had the opportunity to play basketball at the highest level, got a great education, an amazing network through the Davidson Alumni and continue,ue to wave the Davidson flag. I want very talented, high character student athletes to have that same experience."

The first round pick in the NBA Draft and a future Hall of Famer was not heavily recruited out of high school. Davidson Coach Bob McKillop saw something he liked about Curry and offered him a scholarship. The rest as they say is history. He tore up the Southern Co/inference for three seasons before leaving early for the draft and has become one of the league's most popular players. In his tenure at Golden State he's also won two MVP awards to go along with his four championship rings.

Curry is now part of a group of donors at Davidson that has set up a huge fund to advance their program and as far as I'm concerned, this is a brilliant idea. Davidson has been a great mid-major college basketball program for a long time and having Steph Curry back in the mix is a win-win situation.