To help navigate NIL world, Duke basketball hires former Nike marketer as team GM
With college players now allowed to earn money on marketing deals thanks to changes in NCAA rules regarding name, image and likeness, Duke dipped into basketball’s business world to fill a newly created position.
Rachel Baker has been hired as Duke basketball’s first general manager as the program not only transitions in Jon Scheyer’s first season as head coach, but also in the sport’s new landscape created by NIL.
The daughter of a college and professional coach who previously worked in sports marketing roles at Nike and with the NBA, Baker’s Duke job includes helping players with NIL opportunities.
“The state of college basketball is growing and changing at an exponential rate,” Scheyer said in an official statement. “Rachel is a one-of-a-kind talent with unique experience that will provide our players and their families with an unparalleled resource and partner as we navigate new frontiers of college basketball together. Through her work in the NBA and at Nike, she brings nearly a decade of expertise in the business of basketball to our staff, as well as her gifts in relationship and community building, leadership development, and experiential marketing. We can’t wait to see all she brings to our program in this newly-created position.”
Baker played lacrosse at La Salle from 2008-2011 before graduating in 2012 with a communications degree. In 2017, she completed work on an executive education certificate in business of entertainment, media and sports from Harvard.
While at Nike, she worked with the Elite Youth Basketball League, the athletic apparel company’s grassroots basketball program. She also worked on the marketing campaign for NBA all-star Kevin Durant on his Nike KD shoe line.
With the NBA, she worked on the WNBA’s marketing rebrand.
“I could not be more excited to join Jon Scheyer and the entire Duke Basketball family,” Baker said in a statement. “We’re in the middle of such a transformative moment — not only for Duke, but for the college basketball landscape — and the chance to be part of it is the opportunity of a lifetime. Duke Basketball has remained rooted in honoring our storied history while writing the future of the game. I am humbled and honored to join this tradition and can’t wait to get started.”
The 34-year-old Scheyer took over as Duke’s head coach in April upon Mike Krzyzewski’s planned retirement following the 2021-22 season.
Baker is the daughter of Rod Baker, who was head coach at Cal-Irvine from 1991-97 and Tufts from 1983-88 as well as with the Harlem Globetrotters and in the NBA G League.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 10:00 AM with the headline "To help navigate NIL world, Duke basketball hires former Nike marketer as team GM."