A former AT&T CEO volunteered to help Oklahoma athletics become more like a pro franchise

Just out of the kindness of his heart, former AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will help Oklahoma's athletic department during a changing time of college athletics.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione announced in an email to fans Thursday that Stephenson, an OU alum, will serve as Executive Advisor to the President and the Athletics Director, which Castiglione said is a role Stephenson "refused compensation" for.

In the role, Castiglione said, Stephenson will help "guide (OU) into restructuring (OU's) budget for this new world of college sports and into developing a football structure with elements similar to professional sports teams."

Stephenson has had his hands in the sports world before, though. Even during his time as AT&T's CEO he oversaw the purchase of DirecTV, which also included initiatives like NFL Sunday Ticket, NFL Red Zone and gaining rights, through Turner Sports, to broadcast the likes of NBA on TNT, MLB Playoffs and NCAA March Madness. Plus there was the purchase of naming rights for AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Stephenson also served on the policy board for the PGA Tour until last year.

As part of OU's move to become more like a pro sports franchise, there will also be "a more expansive General Manager function." Currently, former OU linebacker Curtis Lofton has the title of Football General Manager, which he was given just this year to help handle NIL distributions.

Now, though, it sounds like Stephenson will play a big part in deciding how funds are distributed to athletes.

This all comes with the looming House vs. NCAA class action lawsuit, which would let universities share revenue with student-athletes. If passed, that would add another $20.5 million to annual costs for OU, according to Castiglione.

It was a long email from Castiglione. And it's also a confusing situation between house settlement possibilities and big numbers being thrown out there. Just as fans are confused, so are universities in how to handle this everchanging college sports landscape. No one wants to fall behind, especially traditional powers like OU that just made a big move to the SEC.

Basically, though, college sports is getting closer and closer to being like professional sports, and OU is just trying to prepare.