Sam Popper, a veteran college personnel executive who most recently spent the last three years at the University of Michigan, is heading to the West Coast.

Sources tell FootballScoop that Popper is expected to join Sean Lewis’ San Diego State Aztecs program in a top personnel position.

Per sources, Popper has agreed to become the Aztecs’ associate general manager, working closely with both Lewis and well-regarded San Diego State General Manager Caleb Davis, who like Lewis and Popper has Midwestern roots.

Popper had served as Michigan’s director of recruiting in recent years after first arriving as the program’s assistant director of recruiting under former head coach Jim Harbaugh. 

He had been pursued by multiple other schools during this cycle, as Michigan transitioned into the Kyle Whittingham era following the school’s firing of ex-head coach Sherrone Moore after Moore was arrested and jailed in December.

Popper, a top target for the vacant Western Michigan general manager’s post, was on the Wolverines staff in 2023 when the program won its College Football Playoff Championship amidst the Connor Stalions controversy. 

But Popper has diverse personnel experience that he’s poised to bring with him to San Diego State.

In addition to his time with the big-budgeted Michigan program, Popper also worked in a key personnel role at Oregon under then-Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal.

Previous additional stops include working at Akron as that program’s director of recruiting, player personnel and as NFL liaison. He spent six months at Memphis as then-Tigers head coach Ryan Silverfield’s director of recruiting before he was hired away by the Wolverines. Silverfield departed the Memphis program this coaching cycle to take over at Southeastern Conference program Arkansas.

A Michigan graduate, Popper logged nearly a decade of total service to the Wolverines football program between his initial work as a student-assistant during his undergraduate days and his return to the program in 2023.

San Diego State under Lewis is coming off a nine-win campaign in which the Aztecs were undefeated at home, routed in-state Power Conference foe Cal in the program’s largest-ever win against a Power Conference foe — 34-0 — and tied atop the Mountain West Conference’s regular-season standings.

The Aztecs are moving to the revamped PAC-12 and open their 2026 season, Year 3 under Lewis, on Sept. 5 at home against Football Championship Subdivision foe Portland State.

A week later, San Diego State has a Southern California showdown when it travels to face UCLA under the first-year leadership of Bob Chesney. The Bruins hired away Chesney from James Madison, where Chesney guided the Dukes to unprecedented success in 2025 that included a Sun Belt Conference Championship and the school’s first-ever College Football Playoff bid.