SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State head football coach Sean Lewis has announced the hiring of Caleb Davis as the program’s first general manager. Davis comes to The Mesa from 2024 College Football Playoff runner-up Notre Dame, where he served as the director of recruiting.
One of the youngest and brightest minds in college football, Davis, 25, will lead the daily operations of SDSU’s talent acquisition department and serve alongside Lewis, overseeing roster management, financial allocations, and recruitment, while serving as the primary liaison for all Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) partnerships, handling player contract negotiations, agent communications and financial packages.
The addition of the GM position to the football program comes on the heels of the state-of-the-art Snapdragon Stadium built in 2022 and San Diego State’s impending move to the Pac-12 for the 2026 season, and allows the Aztecs to stay competitive with the everchanging college landscape.
“We’re ecstatic to add Caleb as our first-ever GM,” said Lewis. “He’s an innovative, smart and forward-looking thinker, who understands how to build a championship program. He’s passionate about what he does, and we are going to lean on him to help us navigate this new landscape of college football.”
“I couldn’t be anymore grateful and excited to join the San Diego State family, and be a part of the incredible tradition of Aztec football,” said Davis. “The vision that Coach Lewis has set for this program and belief within the building is something I’m fired up to be able to align myself with. This is a tremendous opportunity to lead SDSU in the ever-evolving landscape of college football and I look forward to working alongside our coaches, staff, and student-athletes to bring championships to The Mesa. Go Aztecs!”
As the director of recruiting last year at Notre Dame, Davis worked directly with general manager Chad Bowden under head coach Marcus Freeman to enhance the Fighting Irish’s recruiting innovation and stay ahead of the competition when it comes to roster strategy and NIL. Davis led the recruiting department, overseeing the evaluation of all high school prospects, while assisting in the evaluation of the transfer portal. He coordinated on-campus visits, official recruiting events and communication strategies, and was responsible for the coach’s travel books and the football recruiting budget.
Prior to his second stint at Notre Dame, Davis was the general manager of player personnel at Troy under head coach Gerad Parker. He was responsible for all roster management decisions, while creating a recruiting plan for the transfer portal, and at both the high school and junior college level, helping Troy’s 2024 recruiting class improve from 10th in the Sun Belt Conference to second. Davis managed Troy’s recruiting database, oversaw all on-campus recruiting events and ensured its communication strategy was being implemented, including generating social media campaigns.
Before Troy, Davis spent three seasons at Notre Dame, working as a recruiting associate for 2022 and 2023, and as a volunteer defensive analyst under then defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman in 2021. Working under director of recruiting Chad Bowden, he executed recruiting strategy and managed the defensive recruiting board, evaluating prospects and developing relationships with prospective student athletes. Davis also assisted with all on-campus official and unofficial visits, helped generate new recruiting strategies, and helped execute recruiting social media and direct recruiting communication plans. Notre Dame ranked first in the nation in recruiting this past season, 10th in 2024, 12th in 2023 and seventh in 2022.
Davis got his start in college football at Cincinnati from 2017-20 as a student assistant, working under Freeman and safeties coach Colin Hitschler. He also worked under then director of recruiting Chad Bowden, assisting with on-campus official and unofficial visits, compiling weekly
recruiting watchlists, organizing databases and executing social media & direct recruiting communication plans.
San Diego State begins its spring practice today with the Aztec Fast Showcase set for Saturday, April 19 at Snapdragon Stadium.