Nestled inside the walls of the Gators basketball practice facility, things begin to warm up on the night of Feb. 8.
Clad in various Gator gear, five equipment managers from the UF men’s and women’s basketball teams conduct their pregame warmup.
The student managers typically dedicate their time to UF class or serving the needs of their teams. A night like this is their time to take over the court.
Half an hour later, managers from the University of Georgia walk in. Members of Florida’s women’s team watch from the catwalk above the practice court, ready to cheer on the managers as roles reverse for the night.
Florida and Georgia are just two of many teams nationwide taking part in Manager Games, a recreational league exclusive to the equipment managers of NCAA basketball teams. The competition ranges from the likes of mid-major Western Michigan to blue-blood Kentucky.
Almost every week when the college teams play, groups of managers break away from their duties to take on their peers in competitive scrimmages. The games have grown from a casual pastime to a full league, complete with national rankings and a Final Four tournament that will come down to a championship on April 1 through April 4.
Gators men’s basketball manager Max Forstot made it very clear that these games get competitive.
“When the game starts — ask any manager on our staff — it is us against them and we will let them know about it,” Forstot said. “We've had some heated games this year.”
The most heated contests come against teams who employ the services of graduate assistant coaches, many of whom have played college basketball.
Forstot helps organize the Gators managers team as well as participating in the games. The most difficult aspect, Forstot says, is simply getting a matchup game scheduled. The games are typically played late at night on the eve of the college game. It’s the only time available once the managers complete their team responsibilities.
Rashaan Surles, a graduate assistant at UGA, said that a great deal of effort goes into each game, and playing as a team makes it all worth it.
“All the guys work hard and now, we finally get a chance just to play outside of practice,” Surles said. “This reward is just being able to play against some different competition.”
Despite the competitive nature of the games, they also foster an environment of camaraderie. The managers appreciate each other's hard work. Having an outlet to bond and destress while playing the sport they love is huge, Forstot said.
Florida’s managers are having one of their best seasons yet, since the league expanded to allow all NCAA managers to participate in 2015.
Boasting a 5-1 record on the season and listed as the second-best manager team in the country in the latest rankings, Florida’s staffers are primed for a deep postseason run this April and many more games to come.
The games have been going on much longer than the online community has been following them, said Manager Games co-founder Thomas Northcutt.
“Part of the reason that this whole event started was just as a way to record that this has been going on,” Northcutt said. “I can't even tell you the earliest recorded manager game. I know it's been going on forever.”
Northcutt joined the project in 2015, a year after its creation. The original founders were Ian May, Andrew Novak and Kevin Palka, former managers for Michigan State University. Palka is the mind behind KPI, a performance indicator that factors into NCAA’s Net Rating. The concept originally started as a league for managers in the Big Ten conference.
When Northcutt came aboard during his time as a manager at Auburn, the group began expanding to the rest of the NCAA and conceptualizing a postseason tournament.
“Once a week they tweet out the standings on a white piece of paper that they typed out in Microsoft Word, and that was really how it started.” Northcutt said.
The goal has always been to create the best experience possible for students who dedicate a majority of their time to taking care of the team and its equipment, Northcutt explained.
“These guys work really really hard, and it's awesome for them to not only get to play and compete and everything, but just to know that they're appreciated,” Northcutt said.
Northcutt, having watched the game grow since his time at Auburn to now, is pleased with how things are going.
“Part of the job of being a manager is going unnoticed.” Northcutt said. “Giving these guys a platform, giving these guys the chance to be something bigger and give them their 15 minutes of fame. To give them that moment where they can sort of celebrate them and show off their accomplishments it’s really a lot of fun.”
Contact Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@alligator.org. Find him on Twitter @jaxacastellano.
Jackson Castellano is a third-year sports media journalism student and the Digital Managing Editor at The Alligator for Spring 2024. In the past, he's served as the Sports Editor, Assistant Sports Editor and a Sports Reporter covering Football, Men's basketball and Baseball.
