Emmert: Next NCAA prez needs ‘lot of patience’
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.”
DENVER — Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw inched closer to 3,000 career strikeouts Thursday, fanning five in six innings against the Colorado Rockies.
Kershaw has 2,997 strikeouts in his 18-year career, three short of becoming the 20th major leaguer to reach the milestone.
Kershaw’s next scheduled start is expected at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox.
“I knew I had eight to go,” Kershaw said. “Eight in Colorado is never going to be easy to do. I felt good. But pitched well, got through six. A chance to strike out three at home would be really cool.”
The 37-year-old will be the third active pitcher to reach the mark behind Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Verlander, in his 20th season, has 3,468 strikeouts. Scherzer has 3,412 in 18 seasons.
“He’s certainly competing, making pitches,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he has gotten better each time out, even with not the best of stuff. He just found a way to be efficient.”
Kershaw struck out three in the first two innings Thursday and got his fourth for the final out of the fifth. He struck out Tyler Freeman for the second out of the sixth inning and left the game after retiring the next batter. Kershaw threw 69 pitches, 41 for strikes.
“You always want to be efficient, no matter what,” Kershaw said. “My days of throwing 115 pitches is probably over. Getting through six is probably the biggest thing at Coors Field.
“Doc [Roberts] is doing a good job of protecting me, which I appreciate. I just want to be able to go back out there every fifth, sixth day. Whatever that means is good for now.”
Kershaw recorded two strikeouts on his 73 mph curve and got three more on sliders against a Rockies lineup that had all right-handed batters. He earned his fourth straight win and helped the Dodgers finish a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory.
The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and 10-time All-Star received plenty of crowd support in Colorado, getting a standing ovation from some in the Coors Field crowd when he left the mound after the sixth inning.
Kershaw has made eight starts this season after being activated from the injured list May 17 following offseason left knee and foot surgeries. His ERA dropped to a season-low 3.03 after Thursday’s game.
“He has given us a shot in the arm,” Roberts said. “We’re sort of ailing on the starting pitching side. Coming in and giving us valuable innings, I just love that kind of edge that he gives on start day. We certainly feed off that.”
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