By the end of last July, the NCAA board had decided it was time for the association to rewrite its statutes in an attempt to maintain some relevance and, perhaps, offer it a bigger shield in the courts. Although the renewed NCAA is still in its infancy, the college sports industry is rapidly moving toward a landscape in which the Indianapolis-based association is an event organizer rather than a ruling gentleman.
Greg Sankey, one of Emmert’s rivals for power and commissioner of the Southeast Conference, perhaps the most influential league in college sports, said the association “needs to be reconsidered as a whole.” A committee that Sankey is helping to lead is expected to issue recommendations later this year on how to change Division I, the most prominent and lucrative level of NCAA-sponsored sports.
To some extent, Emmert, despite his high title, has always been so powerful. Like Emert, a political scientist by education, he has long been quick to point out that the association is a representative democracy, largely controlled by its approximately 1,100 member colleges and universities of various sizes, budgets and athletic ambitions. And his efforts to strengthen the reach and authority of the NCAA, as when the association moved to punish Penn State after a sexual assault scandal, sometimes failed.
He has also been accused of shortcomings, such as the association’s legal strategy and its glacial response to calls for modernization. Until Tuesday, however, the board had not signaled any plans to change leadership, and Emert did not openly give any indication that the exit plan was imminent.
In an interview in January 2021, he said that his term would depend on his faith, as well as on the board’s belief that he could “make a positive contribution and ensure good leadership”.
“I like working,” he said at the time. “It simply came to my notice then. I’m obviously disappointed, but I have no interest in moving away from that soon, as long as I contribute and do something important for college athletics. “
The next challenge for the association will be to find a replacement for Emmert, who will certainly be hard pressed to unite a membership that seems to be falling apart with each debate. The work is well compensated – Emmert made several million dollars a year, according to NCAA tax returns – but the criticism is a guarantee for the concert.
And these days, after Emert’s term, he will probably hover near the low point of his power and prestige.
Add Comment