Myles Brand diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

Myles Brand is operating in a completely different environment than Byers. Byers got to set up the NCAA as we now know it with a free and iron hand, but it was one that members (and don't forget the NCAA is a membership organization that does the bidding of its members) were actively fighting against in the last decade of his J. Edgar Hoover-like reign. (Stuff like the Tark lawsuit, the lawsuit that successfully allowed individual schools and conferences, instead of the NCAA, to negotiate TV contracts.) Brand, and any NCAA president, is going to be a reflection of what its members want. In Brand's case, someone who can be a face of credibility for putting the student in student-athlete, who publicly stands for giving schools more control over their athletic departments, who gives a more moral face to college sports -- and, of course, won't fuck up that fat TV contract with CBS.

Not saying Brand is great or not great, just that any association leadership is reflective of what a majority of its membership fancies itself to be.

 

A speedy recovery to the man who cowed the virulent bully.

 

Comparing Walter Byers and Myles Brand is the ultimate apples-vs.-oranges scenario.

Put Walter Byers into the current seat for three hours and his head would explode.

 

Hopefully that is sarcasm.

It's sad he has cancer and that's all I'll say about him.

 

Honestly, what Sampson did at IU was knick-knack shit. He was dumb as shit for doing it, but his sin was calling potential recruits more often than he was allowed to and skirting around NCAA probation rulings that restricted his calling. Only one player that he called too many times (never been officially released, but most suspect it was DeAndre Thomas) ended up coming to IU. No players were paid. His unfair advantage barely worked to his credit. IU was put on probation for an extended period of time and the self-imposed penalties, which included the loss of scholarships, were accepted. Yes, Indiana was stupid to hire Sampson and Sampson was even dumber to think he could get away with it (and had it not been for a very perceptive compliance department intern, he would have). But this ain't Kentucky FedEx-ing money to a recruit or Dave Bliss covering up a homicide to save his own skin.

I wasn't at Indiana when Brand was there, so I don't have any real strong feelings one way or another about him. But his name is lower than mud around Bloomington. Both the football and basketball programs were in decline when he got there and to a certain extent, he was left holding the bag.

 

I'm sorry he has cancer.
I'm not sorry about my feelings with his impact on college athletics.

 

Bingo.

I'll echo the other IU alums in noting Brand's still-felt negative effect on Indiana University, in ways that go beyond the firing of a basketball coach who has since said and done plenty to negate much of his accomplishments at Indiana.

I wish such a devastating cancer on no one. Did I want Brand run out of Bloomington (and now, the NCAA) on a rail? Absolutely. But not cancer.

 

Well, if you're going to bring up your objections to him on this thread, why don't you show some guts and bring up your objections?

 

Several pages of our transgressions about the man should have given enough to chew on, Twoback.

 

Pretty much, yeah.
I think the "objections" (Your word, not mine) have been pretty well stated.

 

This thread is only a page and a half long and contains almost no specific objections other than stuff from IU alums.
That has nothing to do with his work at the NCAA.
What has he done for the NCAA? Gotten rid of the god-awful federal graduation rate stats -- jucos don't count, transfers don't count -- that distorted every school's record and replaced them with something that actually reflects whether or not schools are graduating their athletes. How's that for a start?
How about the fact athletes now have a fund for emergency needs that did not exist previously?
How about the fact basketball players now can go try out for pro teams and have their expenses covered -- no longer having to go into debt or take money from agents to make that work?
The NCAA is a complicated animal. Myles Brand didn't unilaterally place these items into law. But he created a much more lenient, athlete-friendly atmosphere than existed under his predecessors.

 

Not to nitpick but I think the emergency fund was a Ced Dempsey creation.