General Managers in college sports were unheard of before 2021.
But then came along the complexities of the Name, Image, and Likeness legislation.
Everyone had to adapt quickly to the evolving professionalization of the collegiate sports model.
So the Penn State men’s basketball program hired Scott Pera (right) in May 2025 and the women’s program hired Jason Crafton (left) in June 2025 as their first-ever program’s general manager.
General managers have a vast array of talents, experience, and wisdom related to basketball.
They usually have head coaching experience on their resume, they have a great eye for scoping out talent that fits their program, they know how to build a basketball program the right way by bringing in highly talented players with high character and they also have a business-finance mindset to compliment their basketball mindset.
These individuals now have to sift through thousands of players that enter the transfer portal every year and navigate through the NIL integration and cap management.
Pera, a Penn State Harrisburg graduate from Hershey, Pa., owns nearly 20 years of college basketball coaching experience, most recently serving as the head coach at Rice for seven seasons (2017-2024).
But before his time in Houston, Texas, Pera earned his stripes by first becoming a highly successful high school basketball coach for 11 seasons with a combined record of 258-65.
He led Annville-Cleona High School to a Pennsylvania state title in 1999 and then served as the head coach at Artesia High School in Lakewood, California from 2000-06, where he coached NBA All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist James Harden.
Pera started climbing the college basketball ladder by joining the Arizona State staff from 2006-12, then coming back home and being named Ivy League top assistant while coaching at Penn for two years (2012-14). Pera then made his way down to Houston to be an assistant to current PSU head coach and long time good friend, Mike Rhoades, at Rice University from 2014-17.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.When Pera took over the head coaching role at Rice, he led the Owls to two postseason appearances and an increase in wins in five of his first six seasons.
Crafton, who is from Nyack, New York, graduated from Nyack College in 2003 and was also member of the Warriors’ basketball squad.
His journey in college basketball continued after becoming video coordinator at Villanova for two seasons under head coach Jay Wright from 2003-05.
From his time in Philadelphia, Crafton took a promotion with the United States Naval Academy where he served as an assistant coach from 2005-2010.
He then landed his first head coaching gig at his alma mater, Nyack College, from 2012-18. He took over a Warriors’ program that finished with a record of 1-26 prior to his arrival to turning the program around and making them a highly-competitive 20+ win team from 2013-16.
Crafton then tried his hand in the professional ranks when he was hired as the Offensive and Defensive Coordinator as well as Director of Player Development for the Philadelphia 76er’ G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats in 2018-19.
He then got back into college coaching at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as their head coach from 2019-24. For the tremendous heights he took the Hawks, Crafton was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Coach of the Year Award in 2023. The award recognizes the top Division I minority head coach annually.
From UMES Crafton became Program Strategist for the Columbia men’s basketball team, helping the Ivy League squad achieve its best non-conference start in 50 years with an 11-2 record in 2024-25.
Both of these men are highly-talented individuals with a treasure-trove of knowledge and experience. It will be exciting to see what heights GM Pera and GM Crafton take Penn State basketball.
