Texas
Meet the 24-year-old GM helping North Texas take aim at the College Football Playoff
Editor’s note: This article is part of our GM Spotlight series, introducing readers to general managers who occupy a relatively new and increasingly important job for college football teams.
When North Texas hired Raj Murti in April at 23, he became one of the youngest general managers in college football.
Murti’s rise through the industry has happened quickly. He knew early in his high school career at Martin High in Arlington, Texas, that a future playing football was a long shot. So he became a student assistant under Bob Wager, a highly successful Texas high school football coach. Murti ran the film crew, helped with equipment, played scout team quarterback and assisted with recruiting contacts when college coaches visited Martin. When he graduated, Wager connected him with Ryan Dorchester, who was then the GM at Houston under Dana Holgorsen.
“(Wager) told Dor, ‘I’ve got a guy for you. I don’t know what you need, but make him do something and he’ll make a role for himself,’” Murti said.
Murti, now 24, took that opportunity and ran with it, spending five years on the recruiting and personnel staff at Houston (including two as an undergraduate student). From there, Murti spent a year at TCU as a recruiting coordinator and assistant player personnel director on Sonny Dykes’ staff before landing at North Texas, where the Mean Green are 8-1 and have the best chance to earn the Group of 5’s College Football Playoff berth, according to The Athletic’s projections.
Under coach Eric Morris, North Texas has been one of the surprise stories of the season, with a former walk-on quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, becoming a star (including a 608-yard game). The Mean Green have won despite having a roster budget near the bottom of the American Conference.
The Athletic recently spoke with Murti about his journey through college football personnel, the challenges of winning at a low-budget G5 program in the era of name, image and likeness and revenue sharing, and how to plan for the transfer portal.
So how did the North Texas GM opportunity arise?
It’s funny, I asked coach Morris the same question, like “Why am I here?” (laughs). When I was a program assistant at Houston, part of the job was driving Dana (Holgorsen). In 2023, the THSCA (Texas High School Coaches Association) convention was in Houston. Dana took me to lunch with him, and coach Morris comes in and sits down. They’re hugging and catching up, they obviously go all the way back to their Texas Tech days. About five, six minutes into the conversation, coach Morris looks at Dana and points at me and says, “Uh, who’s the kid?” And Dana tells him about me. Then coach Morris looks at me and says, “You must be pretty f—ing good if you’re sitting here with him right now.”
I saw (Morris) again the next year when I was at TCU and we hosted a big mega (recruiting) camp. We caught up and ate lunch together for two days at the camp. I never had his phone number or anything like that. We’d see each other sparingly. But he said when this job came open and he was going to make it a GM role, he called Dana and Sonny (Dykes). He asked them, “Is Raj ready for this?” And Dana was like “F— yeah.” And Sonny said: “No-brainer.”
He called me and we talked about philosophies, what I do, what’s my thought process. We were on the phone for about an hour and a half. A few days later, I go interview for 5 1/2 hours, (meet with the staff), talked about everything. … They called me the following Monday, which felt like an eternity … and offered me the job.
You’ve worked in personnel departments, but this is your first time running one. What’s that learning curve been like?
It’s been a whirlwind. I got here on April 1, the portal opened on April 15. I had to put together a revenue-sharing plan and evaluate a whole roster in two weeks. It’s everything from deciding who we need to move on from, what positions we need, and then the portal opens and it’s evaluation. I had to tie dollar amounts to the players, which is something I had never done before.
We didn’t finish all of our portal commitments until the end of May, then it’s (recruiting) camp season. Then I had to hire a director of player personnel. There was no chance for self-reflection or how can I get better at this or that, because it’s like, you better figure this s— out because it’s happening and the train is right around the corner, so buckle up.
How long did it take to evaluate the roster before the portal opened and finish putting together the 2025 roster?
Luckily, they were still in spring practice, so I got to do some of it live. I watched the whole roster (on tape) within three days. I didn’t sleep much. And I met with each coach on our coaching staff, individually, about their whole room and every single player in it. I listened to them on everything from what their players do outside of football and who he is to “Hey, he’s a really good inside zone blocker.” So I relied on a lot of their feedback. And I think anyone who doesn’t rely on position coaches’ feedback when building a roster is crazy, because they’re the ones who have to coach them.
We didn’t finish the roster until the end of May. We had to do a lot of portal work. … We were getting in bidding wars and (other) schools were overpaying for kids that I didn’t really value that highly. We bring a kid on a trip, and the day after, we’re about to send him his scholarship paperwork, and he’s like, “Hey, School X down the road said they’re going to offer us $50,000 more.” And I’m like, “Jesus, they don’t even have that much money!”
Drew Mestemaker ranks third in the FBS with 2,702 passing yards. (Raymond Carlin III / Imagn Images)
Your quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, has been one of the revelations of this season. When did you know he was legit?
By the end of spring ball. He was pretty freaky. When I got there, coach Morris told me, “We’ve got two guys (Mestemaker and former Miami and Albany transfer Reese Poffenbarger). I want you to watch for a little while and tell me which one you like.”
I was like, “Coach, I don’t know if it’s because this kid has been in the system for a year, but (Mestemaker) is really f—ing good.” And Drew was continuously getting better.
Your roster budget is less than $2 million, which is near the bottom of the conference, yet you’re 8-1. How do you build a winning roster on a small budget?
You don’t overpay. You keep your priorities and your values. … You don’t get big-eyed in the heat of the moment, keep your composure and understand that this is part of it. If another school wants to overspend for somebody, you’ve got to have a number that you’re like, “I’m not going higher than this.” As long as you have some kind of thought process and your thought process aligns with your evaluation process, which then aligns with your valuation process and how much to pay them.
I’m going to sit down and watch the tape. Our DPP and assistant DPP are going to watch the tape. The coaches are going to watch the tape. And once we all see it the same way, we look at our roster and say, “OK, where does this kid fit?” And it’s such a hard thing to project, because you’re trying to project where a high school kid or a junior college (prospect) or a transfer fits before you can even negotiate what next year’s contracts are with your current team. … So you have to be aligned in the staff from the personnel department to the position coach to the coordinator to the head coach, so we know where a kid fits and there’s a dollar range for that spot on the roster and we’re all on the same page and we’re not gonna overpay to try to get him.
So when do you start making offers to your current roster for next year’s team?
Probably December, before the portal opens. I want these kids to have all the information before the portal opens. “Hey, here’s where we’ve got you at (compensation-wise). If somebody’s going to pay you more money, I get it. But this is what we can do.”
For players like Mestemaker or (freshman running back) Caleb Hawkins, who will likely be attractive portal targets for Power 4 programs, do you have to speed up that process because there may be other teams sniffing around?
No, I don’t think so, because those programs are going to be in a different tax bracket. So either they’re going to stay here for the best offer we can give them and want to be here or not. I hope they stay, but I’m not going to be in a situation where another program is going to dictate what we do.
The early signing period for high school recruits is about a month away (Dec. 3-5), and the transfer portal opens in two months (Jan. 2-16). What’s your planning process for all of that?
We’re a big (high school) senior evaluation team, so we’ll have a lot of official visits for high school and junior college kids, because we’re still trying to finish up our 2026 class. We wait until all the P4s get their commits in the summer, and we know what our pool is after that, then we go swimming. After our bye week (this week), we’ll go into pre-portal evaluations.
What are the biggest priorities and challenges that you face as you approach that time?
Trying to figure out what it takes to retain your team. Because there’s a point where it’s just like, OK, we can spend this to retain him, but is he even worth this, or for this money, can we go get someone else? Or could we get two good players for that money?
It’s important not to be unrealistic. I know what a $16 million roster looks like (at the Power 4 level) and how those rosters are broken down. If a P4 school comes in and tells a player, “Hey, we’re going to give you $250,000,” and if the best we can do is $75,000, is that what it’s going to take for him to stay here? Or are we better off saying, “I need a yes or no now, because if not, we can go get two good players with this.” You gotta be realistic about where you’re at and what you’re capable of. And if you’re not capable of it, don’t overspend and put yourself in a hole because this is still football.
If you put all your money and eggs into one basket and a kid goes down in fall camp or spring ball or second play of the game in Week 1, f—, I’d rather have a deep room than a top-heavy room.
What do you think of having one portal window in the winter rather than having two, including the spring window?
Love it. I think they made it go too long. I thought Jan. 2-11 was perfect. Now that it’s extended to Jan. 16, you’re going to have so many enrollment issues. … How do you get them into school in time? I think you’re going to have so many players that don’t go anywhere in the spring and sit out. They’re just going to be floating around in the portal until someone comes and picks them up.
But I like knowing that whenever February comes around, we’re gonna have our team and that’s our team for the season. I don’t have to worry about the fact that I signed a kid to a contract, but in May I’m going to have to (increase it) because (a Power 4 team) loses somebody they’re gonna come try to poach our guys.
The GM Spotlight series is part of a partnership with T. Rowe Price. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — James Talarico did not mention Donald Trump when he greeted exuberant supporters at his primary night celebration.
But the newly minted Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Texas is now a front man for the political opposition to the Republican president, not just in his own state but around the country. With his victory over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the state lawmaker from Austin will test whether a smiling message of unity and change is enough to answer voters’ frustrations amid discord at home and now a war abroad.
READ MORE: What to watch in the consequential Senate primaries in Texas
“We are not just trying to win an election,” Talarico told supporters in the Texas capital early Wednesday. “We are trying to fundamentally change our politics, and it’s working.”
The campaign provided “Love thy Neighbor” signs to people in the crowd.
The question for Talarico as he heads into the general election campaign is whether he can generate enthusiasm from voters who opted for Crockett because they saw her as the more aggressive fighter against Trump. Crockett conceded to Talarico on Wednesday morning, saying that “Texas is primed to turn blue and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person.”
Talarico will need all the help he can get in a Republican-dominated state where Democrats have gone decades without winning a statewide race. He will face either U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who advanced to a Republican runoff on Tuesday.
Conventional political wisdom has it that Talarico was the stronger Democratic candidate in November, especially if Republicans nominate Paxton, a conservative firebrand who has weathered allegations of corruption and infidelity over the years.
WATCH: What’s at stake for Democrats and Republicans in the Texas Senate primaries
Although Democrats are often choosing between moderate and progressive candidates in primaries, they faced a largely stylistic choice in Texas.
Talarico, 36, is a Presbyterian seminarian who quotes Scripture and rarely raises his voice. Crockett, 44, is an unapologetic political brawler who hammers Trump and other Republicans with acidic flourish.
Both have been reliably progressive votes in their current roles and telegenic faces across cable news and social media. Both represent generational change for a party with aging leadership. Each called for a more equitable economy and society. Each talked about bringing sporadic voters into their coalitions.
But Talarico’s broader argument is one that he could have made regardless of whether Trump was in the White House. Talarico’s campaign, he said often, is about addressing a country whose fundamental divide is not partisan but “top vs. bottom.” He regularly assails the rise in Christian nationalism. A former teacher, he has advocated for public education –- and against Texas conservatives’ policies to restrict curriculum and reshape how U.S. history is taught.
“He’s just a good friend and he’s a serious advocate for the disenfranchised and a serious policymaker,” said Lea Downey Gallatin, 40, an Austin resident who became friends with Talarico when they interned together for a congressman.
Crockett promised Democrats that she could increase turnout within the party’s base, while Talarico campaigned on the theory that he could pull new people into the party’s tent.
“I can’t tell you how many have come up to me, whispering that they’re not a Democrat,” Talarico said as he campaigned in San Antonio in the closing days of the primary campaign. “I can’t tell you how many young people have said it’s the first time that they’ve ever voted, and that they are participating for the first time.”
As he strolled through the city, Talarico posed for pictures and greeted the singer of a Tejano band playing nearby. He later spoke to hundreds of people at the historic Stable Hall, a 130-year-old circular structure built for showing horses and now a converted event center. Hundreds more, unable to get into the full event, wound around the corner and along the sidewalk for blocks.
Inside, Lori Alvarez, a 39-year-old who works for a disaster relief nonprofit, said she supported Talarico because “he really listens to what we need.”
“I think he’s going to be able to make change in Washington for us,” said the married mother of three young girls.
Yet that was not what attracted so many voters to Crockett.
Troy Burroughs, a 61-year-old Navy retiree, called Crockett “rugged” and “the only one I see fighting for us.”
He added: “I like how she doesn’t back down from anybody.”
Burroughs said some voters probably saw Talarico as more electable because he is more soft-spoken. But, he said, “We’ve got to get into the gutter with these folks, because that’s where they are.”
Talarico, meanwhile, keeps fighting his own way.
“Tonight, the people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope,” he said Tuesday, “and a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta, Figueroa from Austin, Texas, and Beaumont from San Antonio.
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Garland is about to witness a different kind of big top spectacle when Omnium Circus’ new show “I’m Possible” rolls into town for its first Texas performance on March 16 and 17 at the Atrium in Garland.
This inclusive circus was founded in 2020 by founder and executive director Lisa B. Lewis. She is no stranger to the circus world. Lewis grew up attending the circus with her grandfather, who was a Shriner. She would then later begin her own circus career at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Clown College.
A performer in a black suit rides inside a cyr wheel
against a stage lit in red. The letters of the OMNIUM
sign are in the background.
The idea for an inclusive circus came to her during one of her first experiences working as a clown. Lewis says that during her performance, she saw a row of grumpy teenagers.
“They had their arms folded like they were mad and grumpy, and then my partner, whom I was working with, began telling jokes in sign language,” Lewis said. “How he knew they were deaf, I don’t know. The group of teenagers immediately started laughing, and the energy of the entire section shifted.”
Lewis said that in that moment, something clicked in her head, and she realized the power of inclusion.
She would then go on to spread joy through the art of circus to special-needs kids. And then later, she created Omnium Circus.
“Circus elevates our belief in ourselves; it allows us to see the best of what humanity has to offer,” Lewis said.
A female with blue hair facing a man with a red hat
Maike Schulz
between them is a large bubble with smaller bubbles
inside of it. There is a golden light coming from
behind the bubbles.
Omnium is a Latin word meaning of all and belonging to all. The circus’ mission is to create joy and entertainment for all no matter the body you inhabit or the skin that you’re in.
The hour-long show in Garland will feature many inclusive acts, such as deaf singer-songwriter Mandy Harvey, an America’s Got Talent finalist and Golden Buzzer winner.
The show will feature two ringmasters: deaf ringmaster Malik Paris will conduct the sign-language portion of the show, while ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson will handle the vocal portion. Iverson is the first Black ringmaster for a major U.S. circus, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
A juggler wearing red and black gazes at his pins in
the air while cast members around him look on in
amazement. The letters of the OMNIUM sign are in
the background behind the performers.
The show will also feature the six-time Paraclimbing World Cup champion, the world’s fastest female juggler, clowns from Dallas, plus more.
Details: March 16 at 7 p.m. and March 17 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.at the Atrium, 300 N. 5th Street, Garland. Tickets are $21.99 for youth and $27.19 for adults.
Texas
Texas GOP Sen. Cornyn tries to hold his seat for a 5th term while Democrats Crockett, Talarico face off
DALLAS (AP) — Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn is trying to hold on for a fifth term in Tuesday’s GOP primary, while Democrats will choose whether to send Rep. Jasmine Crockett or state Rep. James Talarico to a November general election where the party once again hopes it has a chance.
Texas is one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections, a slate of primaries that come as the U.S. and Israel are at war with Iran. The war, which began over the weekend, has killed at least six U.S. service members, spiraled into a regional confrontation as Iran retaliated and sent oil and natural gas prices soaring. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on an isolationist “America First” agenda and went to war without authorization from Congress, faces mounting questions over its rationale and an exit strategy.
Tuesday also is the final day of voting in North Carolina and Arkansas in primaries that mark the start of the 2026 midterms, as Democrats look to break the GOP’s hold on Washington and derail Trump.
Cornyn faces a challenge from MAGA favorite Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a contest that’s expected to advance to a May runoff between the top two vote-getters. The three Republicans have campaigned on their ties to Trump, who has not endorsed in the race.
Crockett and Talarico each argue that they are the stronger general election candidate in a state that backed Trump by almost 14 percentage points in 2024 and where a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in over 30 years.
Voters also are choosing House candidates using new congressional district boundaries that GOP lawmakers — urged on by Trump — redrew to help elect more Republicans.
Cornyn fights to hold seat, Crockett and Talarico race for Democrats
Cornyn hopes to avoid becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history not to be renominated.
His cool relationship with Trump is part of why Cornyn is vulnerable. He and allied groups have spent $64 million in television advertising alone since July to try stabilize his support.
Paxton began campaigning in earnest only last month but has made national headlines for filing lawsuits against Democratic initiatives. He has remained popular in Texas despite a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges, of which he was acquitted, and accusations of marital infidelity by his wife.
Senate GOP leaders, who are backing Cornyn, worry that Paxton’s liabilities would require the party to spend substantially to defend the seat if he is the nominee — money that could be better used elsewhere.
READ MORE: Lawsuit by Trump ally Paxton asserts unproven claim of autism risk from acetaminophen
Paxton has run ads touting his support from Turning Point USA, the group founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as Kirk’s praise for Paxton before he was assassinated in September.
Hunt’s entry into the race in October made it trickier for any primary candidate to win at least 50%, the threshold needed to avoid a May 26 runoff.
All three Republicans have run ads boasting of their coziness with Trump.
On the Democratic side, the party’s first major contest of 2026 offers a choice between stylistic opposites as it hungers for its first Senate win in Texas since 1988.
Talarico, a seminarian who often references the Bible, has held rallies across the state including in heavily Republican areas. Crockett, who has built a national profile for zinger attacks on Republicans, has focused on turning out Black voters in the Dallas and Houston areas.
Talarico had outspent Crockett on television advertising by more than four to one as of late February. He got a burst of attention last month from CBS’ decision not to air his interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert. Colbert said the network pulled the interview for fear of running afoul of Trump’s FCC. Talarico’s campaign announced it raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours after the interview — which was streamed online — was pulled from TV.
Key House primaries
Texas Republicans’ unusual, mid-decade redistricting was aimed at helping Trump’s party pick up five Democratic-held seats in an effort to avoid losing control of the House. It set up some intraparty conflicts between Democratic incumbents, and what are expected to be some of November’s most competitive races.
In the 34th District, former Rep. Mayra Flores is attempting a comeback. Flores made history in a 2022 special election as the first Republican to win in the Rio Grande Valley in 150 years, but she lost her bid for a full term later that year. She faces Eric Flores, a lawyer endorsed by Trump, for the nomination to run against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
In the 23rd District, Rep. Tony Gonzales is considered vulnerable after fellow Republicans called on him to resign over an affair with a staffer who killed herself. He is being challenged by gun manufacturer and YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera, who calls himself “the AK guy.” The district includes Uvalde, site of a deadly 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw is challenged in the 2nd District by GOP state Rep. Steve Toth, who was endorsed by Sen. Ted Cruz.
Former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira is running in District 21, in southwest Texas, for the seat held by Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who is running for state attorney general. Teixeira, a Republican, played for four MLB teams, including the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees when they won the 2009 World Series.
Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy winner, is running in South Texas’ 15th District against physician Ada Cuellar. The nominee will face two-term Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz.
In the 33rd District, Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson faces former Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and 2024 Senate nominee. Johnson, a first-term congresswoman, is seen as vulnerable partly because Allred previously represented part of the district, which weaves through the Dallas and Fort Worth areas. He also retains a national fundraising network from his Senate campaign.
And Democratic Rep. Al Green also is fighting to stay in office after his Houston-based 9th District was drawn to be lean Republican. Green, 78, is now running in a newly drawn 18th District against Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, 37, who won a January special election for the current 18th District. The new one includes two-thirds of Green’s old district.
Abbott and Hinojosa seem bound to face off for governor, while Roy seeks Paxton’s office
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is running for reelection and faces a likely matchup with Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Four-term U.S. Rep. Chip Roy is seeking the GOP nomination for state attorney general, with Paxton running for Senate. Roy has been a prominent member of the conservative Freedom Caucus.
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