Inside Steph Curry’s increased role with Davidson basketball: Is it really a ‘job’?

The social media post that landed on X the morning of March 10 gave Warriors fans a minor heart attack.  

The post, from ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, had the words “Breaking News” attached to it, with a photo of Steph Curry’s mug — add the fact that Charania often breaks big injury news, and souls were shaking all over Northern California.

But it was not the stuff of nightmares for Dub Nation; it was the result of a secret plan hatched by a group of university bigwigs in Davidson, North Carolina. “Warriors’ Stephen Curry has accepted a role with his alma mater Davidson College as assistant general manager for the basketball programs, university officials told ESPN,” Charania wrote. “Curry becomes the first active player in U.S. major pro sports to take an administrative job with [an] NCAA team.”

The post brought mild confusion at first — Curry took, like, a job job in college basketball with the word “assistant” in the title? — and then a chance for humor. Many commenters had fun with the idea that the cost of living is so outrageous in the Bay Area that even Steph had to look for a side hustle.

But what was this really all about? Curry, 37, is under contract with the Warriors through the 2027 season and looks like he could play at a high level well into his 40s. He’s also heading up a budding business empire that is going to be rooted in a new building in the Dogpatch. So, what, he’s going to be watching film of mid-major college basketball players in his spare time?

“Now, I will clarify a couple things,” said Chris Clunie, the athletic director at Davidson, when reached by The Standard. “Number one, he’s not an employee of the college. He’s not under contract for the college. He’s not giving up his day job.”

Clunie chuckled at the notion.

“We would never do that,” he said. “He would never do that. We wouldn’t want him to do that.”

The truth is, Curry has already completed the one real demand of his role at Davidson, donating a huge chunk of cash along with fellow well-heeled alum Matt Berman that puts the Davidson basketball coffers over $10 million. Whatever Curry does from here — with his limited time and immeasurable influence — is gravy. 

Clunie admitted that bestowing the title of assistant general manager on Curry was basically a way of getting the program some much-needed attention. “What I try to explain to folks is he’s not doing anything differently than what he had the ability to do as an alum of the college previously, right?” he said. “It’s just more pronounced now.”

The timing of Curry’s investment in the school that brought him into the national consciousness in the 2008 NCAA Tournament makes perfect sense. Davidson, a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, has not made the tournament the last three seasons. In the sport’s modern era, the Wildcats have struggled to recruit and retain players, who are now allowed to be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) and transfer from school to school an unlimited amount of times. 

That combination has led to bidding wars between the biggest names in the sport over any player from a lower-level Division I program who remotely resembles the transformative kind of talent Steph Curry was for Davidson. 

With revenue sharing — direct payments from schools to athletes — about to begin this summer, Davidson and other small schools have been trying to figure out how to stay at least within smelling distance of the big stage. But it hasn’t been easy.

This NCAA Tournament has felt like a midnight of sorts for college basketball Cinderellas. The only double-digit seed left in the Sweet 16 is No. 10 Arkansas — which plays No. 3 Texas Tech in the West Region semifinals at San Francisco’s Chase Center starting tonight, followed by No. 1 Florida-No. 4 Maryland (a 4:39 p.m. tip). But the Razorbacks are from the mighty SEC and, with John Calipari as coach, are more akin to an evil stepsister.

For former Cinderella Davidson, it’s desperation time. And who do you call when things get desperate on the basketball court? Steph Curry, that’s who.

“When Stephen was on the team in ’08, it put Davidson on the map so much,” Clunie said. “Everything changed, you know? People know us through that run. Oh, that’s Steph Curry’s school.”

Clunie was a senior player for Davidson when Curry visited the school as a high-school senior during the 2005-06 season. He missed playing with the global basketball legend by one year. “He was a local kid who fell in love with Davidson,” Clunie said. “He stayed overnight with some of my teammates, and we played pickup basketball. I think at the time I said, like, ‘Oh, he’s going to be pretty good.’ “

Clunie said the $10 million-plus from Curry and Berman is the reason Davidson opted into the NCAA v. House revenue-sharing settlement, which allows schools to share revenue with athletes across all sports for up to $22 million total annually. He hopes it will give the Wildcats a real shot to build more nationally competitive teams in the coming years.

“You have to be able to not just recruit players but retain players,” Clunie said. “I think Stephen benefited from Davidson because he stayed and he developed. And that is harder now unless you can retain players because now there’s options to compensate players.”

If today’s circumstances existed for Curry coming off his remarkable showing in the tournament as a sophomore leading Davidson to the Elite 8, there would have been a huge line of suitors vying for his transfer. Instead, he stayed at Davidson one more season before entering the draft and finding his way to the Bay Area. 

“I would not have wanted Stephen to be playing in this world,” Clunie said. “Let’s just put it that way.”

Curry seems to value the fact that he stayed at Davidson and wants future players to not feel like they have to leave.

“The Davidson experience is top-notch,” Curry said in a statement released by the school. “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 to wave the Davidson flag. I want very talented, high-character student-athletes to have that same experience.”

Davidson wants Curry to be as involved going forward as he wants to be. As assistant general manager, he will be looped into the program’s strategic planning for how it will allocate money to players, among many other aspects. He can form bonds with current men’s and women’s players and train with them in the offseason, but he cannot talk with prospective recruits or their families unless they happen to be on campus at the same time he is. Of course, those prospects will know that Curry is involved with the operation. 

Clunie has no expectations for how often Curry dips his head in to share wisdom. But he did tell this story, which speaks to the man’s efficiency in all matters: When the Warriors visited Charlotte to play the Hornets on March 3, Curry went out of his way after his pregame warmup routine to spend time talking with each of the 10 female Davidson athletes who were the first scholarship recipients of the Curry Family Women’s Athletics Initiative. 

“I don’t know anybody that compartmentalizes better than Stephen,” Clunie said. “He’s always present and in the moment with whatever he does. And his time is so short, but he’s super intentional with the time. 

“I don’t know how he does it. He’s got so much going on, which is why we wanted to be sensitive. You know, don’t quit your day job, Stephen [laughs]. You’re much more beneficial to us doing what you do, representing us, and being an ambassador.”