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LAS VEGAS — Outgoing NCAA president Mark Emmert had some advice for his replacement in his first public appearance since announcing in April that he was stepping down from position he has held for the past 12 years.

“The job requires a lot of patience. And it requires a lot of tolerance for ambiguity, and it’s got a lot of moving parts because of the scale of the enterprise,” Emmert said Wednesday during an appearance at the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. “But that just means you got to stay as focused as you can on what really counts. And that’s doing the right thing by the athletes.”

Emmert, 69, has kept a low profile during this lame-duck period as the NCAA’s leader. His tenure is set to end June 30, but the search for his successor is expected to be completed by the NCAA convention the second week of January.

He will leave the NCAA, which has more than 1,100 member schools that serve half a million college athletes, as it is in the process of a sweeping reorganization and attempt to decentralize the regulation of college athletics.

Major college sports is transitioning into a new era where athletes can be paid endorsers, while enforcement of rules regarding name, image and likeness has been flimsy. The games have never been more valuable media content, but the NCAA is still fighting to keep from paying the athletes like employees.

Emmert has led the NCAA through a tumultuous time when it has been battered by antitrust lawsuits and threatened by politicians. Last year’s unanimous ruling on NIL by the Supreme Court left the NCAA exposed to further legal attacks and pivoting to deregulation.

“Mark walked … in at one of — if not the most challenging time for intercollegiate athletics and has continued to lead well,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “I think you have to take a step back and look at how the NCAA is continuing to function as a priority and how it’s continuing to adapt, and you can make plenty of observations: ‘Well, it hasn’t done this. It hasn’t done that.’ That true in any endeavor.”

Despite all the uncertainty, Emmert said leading the NCAA is still a desirable opportunity.

“I guess I’ll confess to a little bit of envy to whoever winds up stepping in next because they get to continue to shape that amazing American institution,” he said.

Emmert called college sports a “public trust” and conceded the job was even bigger than he thought it would be when took over in 2010. Emmert had previously served as the president at the University of Washington and LSU.

Even with that experience in higher education, Emmert admitted the governance of college sports — a representative democracy with limited power for the person sitting at the top — was complicated.

Chris Howard, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Arizona State, called Emmert “a good leader” who had a challenging role.

“It’s a different type of leadership that’s much different than that stern hand that we think we associate with leadership,” said Howard, a former college football player at Air Force who previously was president at Robert Morris.

Emmert has faced plenty of criticism as he became the face of an increasing unpopular entity.

“I think it’s in a lot of ways inappropriate to have an administrator be the face of the NCAA,” Emmert said. “The athletes are the face of the NCAA.”

Emmert, who made $2.9 million in 2021, said the only time the criticism bothered him was when he was accused of not caring about the athletes and prioritizing generating revenue.

“That’s painful. It’s offensive,” he said. “It means somebody’s not spent two minutes trying to figure out you know who this guy is and what he’s done all his life.”

Emmert said it was fair to say the NCAA should have acted sooner on name, image and likeness, but the association’s ability to create guidelines was overrun by state laws and other challenges.

“And the legal environment right now really constrains any national entity from saying, ‘Yeah, here’s how we’re going to manage this and control it,'” he said.

He called, again, for Congress to create federal NIL legislation.

“The job requires a lot of patience. And it requires a lot of tolerance for ambiguity, and it’s got a lot of moving parts because of the scale of the enterprise. But that just means you got to stay as focused as you can on what really counts. And that’s doing the right thing by the athletes.”

Mark Emmert

Emmert said he did not regret going outside the NCAA’s normal enforcement process to punish Penn State‘s football program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case in 2014. The NCAA was sued for the penalties and sanctions against Penn State, and eventually many of them were rolled back.

“In retrospect, it would have been useful to do that a little more slowly, probably,” Emmert said. “And maybe some of the anxiety would have died down, but I don’t second guess that one as much as people think.”

Emmert said he has played no role in choosing the next NCAA president beyond helping the board of governors create a job description.

“I’ve just loved 12 years of working in this space. I think college sports is one of the most consequential things that goes on in the country,” Emmert said. “And I hope people always recognize that we’re talking about changing a half a million people’s lives on an annual basis. There’s very few enterprises that do that.”

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

SAN JOSE, Calif. — NHL leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl left the Edmonton Oilers‘ game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in the second period because of an undisclosed injury and didn’t return.

Draisaitl appeared to be injured midway through the second period and skated gingerly to the bench before leaving for the dressing room. Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that he had no update on the severity of the injury.

Jeff Skinner scored the tiebreaking goal shortly after Draisaitl left the game, giving the Oilers a 3-2 victory that kept them within two points of the Los Angeles Kings in the race for second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Obviously we’ve had some injuries to key guys,” Skinner said. “It’s a lot of opportunity for other guys to step up and I think guys have done a good job so far. We’re going to have to continue that and keep working together to get the results we want.”

Draisaitl had an assist earlier in the second period. He leads the NHL with 52 goals and is third in the league with 106 points.

Draisaitl sat out four games last month because of an undisclosed injury.

The Oilers are already without star center Connor McDavid, who has been sidelined since colliding with Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey on March 20. McDavid has resumed skating with the team in a noncontact jersey but there is no timetable for his return.

The playoffs begin in just over two weeks.

“You never want to miss those guys,” Knoblauch said. “You never want your top players not to play because every time they’re not in, it decreases your chances of winning because they are good players, obviously. But what happens is other guys have some opportunities to play, get some confidence, hopefully score some goals, because we’re going to need them.”

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Avalanche star Cale Makar scored against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night to become the ninth defenseman in the NHL, and the first with Colorado, to score 30 goals in a season.

The sixth-year player is the NHL’s first defenseman to reach the 30-goal mark since Mike Green of the Washington Capitals had 31 in 2008-09.

Makar put the Avalanche up 5-2 by scoring a power-play goal with 38 seconds left in the second period. He was set up in the left circle for a one-timer by a pass from Nathan MacKinnon. He also had two assists as the Avalanche won, 7-3, to clinch their eighth consecutive playoff appearance.

Overall, NHL blue liners have now combined to reach 30 goals 18 times, led by Bobby Orr, who had five 30-goal seasons. Paul Coffey (four) and Denis Potvin (three) are the only others to have had multiple 30-goal seasons. The list is rounded out by Ray Bourque, Kevin Hatcher, Phil Housley and Doug Wilson.

With the goal and two assists, the 26-year-old Makar also increased his point total to 90, matching the franchise record for defenseman he set last season. In doing so, he became the NHL’s fifth defenseman to produce consecutive 90-point seasons, and first since Coffey (1988-89 to 1990-91) and Al MacInnis (1989-90 to 1990-91).

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Blues’ Holloway exits with lower-body injury

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Blues' Holloway exits with lower-body injury

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis forward Dylan Holloway left the Blues’ 5-4 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period Thursday night because of a lower-body injury.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery had no additional information on the injury after the game.

“We’ll have more, I’m sure, tomorrow,” Montgomery said.

The team announced the injury during the first intermission and said he would not return to the game. It was not clear when Holloway was injured.

Holloway had eight shifts in the first period.

Holloway has been a driving force in the Blues’ 11-game winning streak, which ties a franchise record. He has 26 goals and 37 assists in 77 games this season.

“Obviously, that’s an elite player for us, someone who plays in all situations, and, you know, a really important piece to our team,” forward Jake Neighbours said. “We had to focus on the task at hand. … it sucked losing Dylan, and just hope he’s OK.”

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