NCAA selects Washington’s Mark Emmert to succeed Brand as president

NCAA names Mark Emmert new president

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA found its new president in the same place it got its last one — the university administration office.

Now, college sports’ largest governing body is hoping Mark Emmert can be just as effective.

The University of Washington president became the NCAA’s top executive on Tuesday, ending the search for Myles Brand’s successor that began in November.

“It’s a pleasure and a challenge to follow Myles,” Emmert said. “His legacy is so strong and because of the impact he had on the organization in a relatively short period of time, the foundation for me to build on is very, very strong. But it’s a challenge because those are big shoes to fill.”

The 57-year-old Emmert emerged from a field that started with nearly 100 candidates, was winnowed to 32, and finally down to the handful of contenders who interviewed with the NCAA’s executive committee on Tuesday.

By late afternoon, Oregon State president and committee chairman Ed Ray called Emmert to offer him the job. An hour later, Emmert was introduced as the NCAA’s fifth CEO.

Emmert will begin serving his five-year term Nov. 1. He earned $906,500 in total annual compensation at Washington, second to only Ohio State’s E. Gordon Gee among public university presidents, but the NCAA did not release the financial details of his contract. Brand reportedly earned about $1.7 million per year.

Ray said Emmert is capable of representing the NCAA “in virtually any venue.”

“We all feel that this is sort of a bully pulpit type of thing, and you saw how he handled the questions today,” Ray said after the news conference. “Many of the questions that were asked were the same questions or similar questions to what he was asked by the committee.”

Replacing the first university president to ever lead the NCAA won’t be easy.

It was Brand who championed landmark academic legislation to put a stronger emphasis on class work and endeared himself to coaches and athletes, surprising some because he had no previous experience running an athletic department. The former Indiana University executive also was revered inside the halls of the NCAA headquarters and by university presidents.

So when Brand died from pancreatic cancer on Sept. 16, it left a huge void within the organization.

A week later, the NCAA made Jim Isch its interim president.

Now Emmert faces the daunting challenge of adding teeth to Brand’s policies and trying to carve out his own niche.

“I want to sit down with the membership and talk about what’s working and what’s not. The fact is that these reforms are so young, that it takes time to measure the impact of them,” Emmert said. “I don’t foresee revolutionary change in terms of academics issues, I see an evolutionary change as we go forward.”

Some of the issues haven’t changed.

Almost immediately upon his introduction, Emmert was asked about the NCAA’s new $10.8 billion television package for the men’s basketball tournament. Isch announced the deal last week, causing some to wonder about the big business of college sports.

“The real question for me is one of intention, what are you raising those dollars for, what are you doing with them?” Emmert said. “I’m very comfortable with the position we’re in right now.”

Emmert also showed he was capable of sidestepping other tricky questions, such as the issue of a college football playoff.

“Do you have any controversial questions,” he joked, drawing laughter from NCAA employees. “What I look forward to is having conversations with the presidents about what’s in the best interests of their schools, but I do not expect the NCAA to be leading that charge.”

The choice was a surprise.

Most figured the front-runners were University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, Georgia president Michael Adams and longtime NCAA vice president Bernard Franklin.

Ray had said he’d hoped to have a new president before July 1.

Emmert became Washington’s 30th president in June 2004, returning to where he attended college after serving as LSU’s chancellor.

His salary has been a target for critics in Seattle who note his university has recently cut services and eliminated over 850 staff positions amid reductions in Washington state’s budget for higher education.

The regular at Huskies football and men’s basketball games has a passion for sports. In an interview with The Associated Press this month, Emmert said Washington’s performance in the NCAA basketball tournament was one of the highlights of his year.

“That was a pleasure and a delight to watch,” said Emmert, who usually sat a couple of rows off the baseline across from the Huskies’ bench at home games.

Emmert was a key engine behind Washington’s push to return to national prominence in athletics, specifically in football and men’s basketball.

About 16 months ago, Emmert approved athletic director Scott Woodward’s recommendation to commit $13.5 million from their self-sustaining athletic department to the hiring of first-time head football coach Steve Sarkisian, two coordinators and two other assistants.

This month Emmert and Woodward gave a 10-year contract extension to basketball coach Lorenzo Romar. The Huskies won the Pac-10 tournament championship this year and reached the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Asked about Emmert’s qualifications to run the NCAA, Woodward said: “His ability, his leadership skills primarily. He’s an incredible leader of people and just a bright guy. And he’s been doing higher education his entire life.

“He really, really cares about student welfare and it’s a big focus on what he will do as president of the NCAA.”

A native of Fife, Wash., Emmert graduated from Washington in 1975 with a degree in political science. He received his master’s degree in 1976 and his doctorate in 1983, both in public administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Now he will preside over a sports behemoth.

“It was never a job I aspired to,” Emmert said. “But as I was approached by this position and looked at how I could bring skill and talent to it, I had to take a look at it.”

Emmert’s surprise departure from Washington leaves the university in an unexpected search for a successor.

The UW regents said they will select an interim president to begin serving in November, and soon will appoint a search committee to find Washington’s next president.

Associated Press Writer Donna Gordon Blankinship and AP Sports Writers Gregg Bell and Tim Booth in Seattle contributed to this report.