Sports agent, Jimmy Sexton, leads Creative Artists Agency’s Coaches Division. Referred to as college football’s most powerful agent by Sports Illustrated, Sexton will be distributing a little bit more of the workload these days. This week, the agency added Under Armour’s Walker Jones, as reported by Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal.
Jones — the former Head of College Sports Marketing for Under Armour — will work with coaches as he serves as an agent for CAA.
“It was a very tough decision to leave UA,” Jones said to Sports Agent Blog late Tuesday night. “I have had an amazing six years at UA and the brand and the people I worked with there are very special. I will be forever indebted to Kevin Plank and all the teammates at UA for making my tenure there so memorable and rewarding. However, the opportunity at CAA allowed me the chance to move closer to family, stay in the same industry and utilize the same contacts and relationships I have built at UA over the last six years. I also have great respect for Jimmy and CAA in my dealings with them over the years and being able to join a team of their magnitude and reputation in our industry was something I could not pass up.”
According to Jones, the agency business grew more intriguing the more he learned about it and as he saw the coaching side really develop, much to the credit of Sexton.
Added Jones, “I always thought [Jimmy Sexton] had one of the coolest jobs in our industry.”
Jones will work closely with Sexton along with the other agents in the CAA Coaches Division, growing the clientele in football, basketball, and others sports. The Ole Miss graduate said that while he was at Under Armour he worked not only with football, but all sports. He iterated the possibility of “crossing over into some of those sports that are not currently being serviced and adding those coaches to our roster.”
Read into that what you want. If it’s my guess, men’s and women’s soccer coaches’ salaries at the collegiate level are on the rise, so lucrative opportunities may present themselves there. At the same time, the upper echelon of Division-I college hockey coaches also may be in the market for a potential agent, if some aren’t already represented. With the addition of Jones, it will certainly be interesting to see how the Coaches Division evolves and what new clients the agency attracts in 2014.