What is Next for the NCAA?

Seeing Mark Emmert's woeful performance today makes me think the next NCAA president will be someone from outside academics and athletics. If I was a school president I would demand it. Instead of the "academics" giving the athletics some class, the athletics have come to tarnish not only their schools and schools in their conference, but the entire NCAA organization. They need a commissioner, someone who can swim in the athletic world, the academic world, the enforcement world and the TV world.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/4/4/4183936/mark-emmert-press-conference-ncaa-final-four

Rush/Rutgers/Auburn and today Emmert seemingly clueless about the potential damage that they inflict on the organization and not overly eager to learn more, makes me think the time when the NCAA could take up business at quarterly meetings and conduct matters at the glacial pace still acceptable on college campuses is over. The stemwinder/filibuster at the top of his "media availability" (couldn't he have just issued what he said in those opening remarks in a release?) makes me think he was well aware of what was coming.

 

What's next? Make a lot more money and hope the O'Bannon case doesn't destroy them.

I started a similar thread after the year that Auburn, Oregon, Miami and Ohio State all found the spotlight, which was about the time USC finally got rung up. The consensus there was it doesn't matter, it's going to keep happening until some outside force stops it. And then realignment continued and the dollars just got bigger.

 

The problem with choosing the next NCAA head is the same idiots who chose the last one - university presidents - will be choosing the next one.

 

It's just obvious (to me anyway) the whole thing has reached the tipping point and there is no reform possible other than blow it all up. Every time you address one problem (compensating players), you get another one (the basketball and football players or the women's swim team too?). Enforce academic standards? Dramatically alter the racial balance of sports. Crack down with the existing rulebook but really mean it? Fine, stop Saban mid-dynasty and take every one of his competitors down with him.

Big-time college sports never made a whole lot of sense before, but now it's just beyond comprehension.

 

You can count me among the few who believe colleges and universities should have no athletics above the club level.

And no, I don't care about the financial hit to the schools. They should be places of education, not athletics. Why are we the only country that does this?

 

Good luck with that.

The public wants big-time university sports. End of story.

 

That's perfectly understandable.

It's a business. Let's treat it as such. Treat athletes as school employees.

 

Which ones?

 

Not wanting to treat the athletes as school employees, specifically in the area of worker's compensation, is why the NCAA came up with the term "student-athlete" in the first place.

I doubt the group has changed its stance in the ensuing 80 years.

 

The ones who are on the team. There's hundred of millions in new revenue coming in from the TV rights for the D-I football playoff. Take a percentage off the top for hosting the games, then split the rest up equally, either among all non D-III athletes, a differing percentage for each division, or just all D-I athletes. Then allow players to seek their own endorsements and promotional opportunities.

 

American Exceptionalism.

 

So all scholarship athletes then? Because that's how it's going to have to be.