The Arizona football program officially announced the hiring of Aaron Knotts as general manager on Monday. Knotts comes to Arizona from Washington. Knotts just completed his 12th season at Washington as the Director of Internal Operations and Football Strategy.
Knotts was promoted to Associate Athletic Director and Chief of Staff in 2024 at Washington. Part of Knotts's responsibilities in that role was future opponent scheduling. Knotts spent the last two seasons on the Washington staff under former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch.
Knotts was part of a three-person internal search committee that led to Washington hiring Fisch from Arizona. Washington elevated Knotts to Chief of Staff in 2018, a position he held under four different head coaches.
Knotts was responsible for multiple aspects of the Washington football program as Chief of Staff, which included recruiting, NIL, marketing, budgeting, capital projects, video, human resources, compliance and serving as the NFL liaison for eight seasons (2016-2023).
Welcome to the 520 @Coach_Knotts 🌵 pic.twitter.com/CUBRcAgnwn
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) December 22, 2025
How Knotts began with Washington
Washington initially hired Knotts as the assistant director of player personnel in 2014. Knotts moved to director of high relations in 2015 and director of player personnel in 2016 and 2017. Knotts is a 2012 graduate of Miami University in Ohio.
Washington signed the 12th-ranked 2026 class and the 23rd-best one in 2025. Knotts will replace Gaizka Crowley, who left to become the general manager at Arkansas. Knotts will be responsible for helping Arizona head coach Brent Brennan develop the Wildcats' roster.
Arizona signed the 37th-ranked 2026 class. Knotts will likely get to work on the Transfer Portal. Six seldom-used Arizona players have entered the 2026 Transfer Portal. Expect Arizona to target the secondary in the transfer portal. Arizona loses starting defensive backs Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes at the end of the 2025 season.
In addition to losing Crowley, Arizona also lost running backs coach Alonzo Carter. Sacramento State hired Carter as head coach. Arizona director of player personnel Fletcher Kelly is expected to go with Crowley to Arkansas.