New NCAA President Named

[SubGod22]

ESPN - NCAA announces Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker as next president

In April, Emmert announced he would be stepping down. He has led the NCAA since November 2010 and in April 2021 had his contract extended through 2025. Emmert will remain in an advisory role until June.

"We are excited to welcome Governor Charlie Baker to the NCAA and eager for him to begin his work with our organization," Linda Livingstone, Baylor University president and chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, said in a statement. "Governor Baker has shown a remarkable ability to bridge divides and build bipartisan consensus, taking on complex challenges in innovative and effective ways. As a former student-athlete himself, husband to a former college gymnast, and father to two former college football players, Governor Baker is deeply committed to our student-athletes and enhancing their collegiate experience. These skills and perspective will be invaluable as we work with policymakers to build a sustainable model for the future of college athletics."

Livingstone led the presidential search along with six others, including former Duke standout basketball player Grant Hill, now co-owner of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

A new era in NCAA leadership and at an interesting time as well.

[SubGod22]

ESPN - Legal threats, NIL among top issues facing new NCAA president

Incoming NCAA president Charlie Baker believes college sports will change significantly during his tenure but expects that process will be more of an evolution of rules than a revolution.

Baker officially began his tenure as NCAA president Wednesday, less than two months after finishing his second term as the governor of Massachusetts. He takes over as the head of an organization facing internal and external turmoil as it tries to find new footing amid mounting attacks on its business model. The main question facing the new president and the nearly 1,100 member schools he now leads is whether they have enough time to evolve or if outside forces will move faster to upend what remains of the association's long-held tenet of amateurism.

"I think what's important for us is to make sure we control, to the extent that we can, our own destiny on this stuff," Baker told ESPN as he prepared for his first days in office. "To recognize and understand that means that we need to make some decisions and move a little more quickly than maybe we have in the past."

Baker said he hopes that by controlling its own destiny, the NCAA can avoid the "all or nothing" options for revamping the rules governing a group of athletic departments and conferences that range from Division III schools operating on tight budgets to those signing billion-dollar television deals to showcase athletes with million-dollar endorsement portfolios. He said the NCAA needs to more acutely acknowledge the gap between the very top tier of profit-generating teams and the vast majority of sports that operate in a more "traditional" collegiate model.

I'm a little concerned about some of the things he says. Not sure if I'm reading too much into it, but I guess we'll see down the road.

[shoxlax]

I thought for sure it would have been Bill Self.

[SubGod22]

ESPN - NCAA president Charlie Baker against additional transfer limits

NCAA president Charlie Baker said he is not in favor of rules or federal laws that would place new limits on the way college athletes transfer between schools.

During a wide-ranging, hourlong interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Baker harbored no sympathy for the many coaches who have publicly complained about the difficulties they have in maintaining stable rosters in the new college sports environment that carries fewer restrictions on player transfers and allows for name, image and likeness deals that have proved to be incentives for players to consider changing teams.

"I've had conversations with a bunch of coaches who didn't ... walk out on their contracts," Baker said. "One of the things I hear from kids when I talk to them about this issue is, 'Coaches walk out on their contracts. What about us?'"

Coaches "walk out" on their contracts at a much lower rate and face financial hits when they do. Players used to receive a hit when they had to sit out a year. Now there are absolutely no consequences for jumping ship.

Among other topics discussed with ESPN at the association's headquarters, Baker said he thinks there is an opportunity to expand the NCAA men's basketball tournament -- if it's done with care. Leaders of some of college sports' biggest and most powerful conferences have told ESPN and other outlets in the past week that they would like to press for changes that would allow for more of their teams to have access to March Madness.

Baker said he does not support the idea of decreasing opportunities for schools from smaller leagues to make the tournament by eliminating any of the automatic bids those leagues get for the teams that win their conference championships.

"Most of the people who follow college sports think the NCAA tournament in basketball is perfect, right? So anything that's done to change it needs to be done with care and consideration," he said.

If they expand the tournament only to give those bids to shitty teams from power conferences it will kill what makes the tournament great. The P conferences already dominate the at large process, so I'm not sure why they're whining about needing more access, other than they're greedy bastards that want even more of the pie that they're already hogging.

[WuDrWu]

"I've had conversations with a bunch of coaches who didn't ... walk out on their contracts," Baker said. "One of the things I hear from kids when I talk to them about this issue is, 'Coaches walk out on their contracts. What about us?'"

If you are in charge of ANYTHING, and you can't rebut a simplistic comment like that, you don't deserve your position. Check your privilege and walk away or get fired on the spot. JFC does he walk around with lube taped to his back in a down spout position for ease? Bending over for children isn't going to work. Be the adult.