Staff Directory

Sam Strantz

Title:
Executive Director of Front Office Strategy and Operations
Email:

Sam Strantz is in his first year at Kansas after joining the athletics department as the Executive Director of Front Office Strategy and Operations in August 2026. His position is a first-of-its-kind role in the department, showing continued evolvement in the everchanging landscape of college athletics.

Strantz, who served as the Senior Team Counsel for the Rockets, will report directly to Director of Athletics Travis Goff help lead the department's efforts and approach in cap management. He will work to develop an analytical approach to provide strategic advisement to Goff and various head coaches throughout the department.

Strantz spent nearly five years with the Rockets, joining the organization in 2021 as Associate Legal Counsel. He was promoted to Senior Team Counsel in July of 2024. In that role, he advised the Rockets on both basketball operations and legal strategy, supporting front-office decision making, roster construction, transaction execution and organizational execution.

Additionally, Strantz served as a legal and strategic advisor to senior leadership, including the President, General Manager, General Counsel and coaching and basketball operations staff. Some of his duties included drafting and negotiating NBA uniform player contracts, advising basketball operations on NBA rules, CBA interpretation, draft matters, players health and roster construction, developing contract templates, playbooks and negotiation frameworks and supporting strategic and commercial initiatives.

Prior to his time with the Rockets, Strantz served as corporate counsel for Sling TV and served as an associate attorney at Baker Donelson in Memphis for five-plus years. Strantz holds a law degree from the University of Tennessee and an undergraduate degree from Memphis. Strantz, and his wife, Ivy, have a son, Sawyer, and a daughter, Sadie.