Tag: Mark Emmert

Why Mark Emmert and the NCAA will never admit defeat

Dancing around defeat: The name of the game for Emmert.

Mark Emmert is no fool. He might feign indifference and ignorance, but he knows exactly what he’s doing.

The current president of the esteemed (loose definition) NCAA, Emmert, is no stranger to controversy. With a trademark word salad, the man practically invites a not-so-subtle war of words whenever he steps in front of a microphone.

With the Final Four in both Men’s and Women’s college basketball around the corner, the president, or should I say, CEO (important definition), had thoughts on the current state of his nonprofit organization (loose definition).

Most notably, Emmert discussed the fallout of the landmark Alston vs. NCAA case from last summer — where the United States Supreme Court voted 9-0 (!!!) in favor of collegiate athletes getting academic benefits and reimbursements.

I’m sorry, Mark, I don’t quite understand? Let’s rewind.

Did you mean to say you cannot lose landmark Supreme Court cases and still win?

I’ll be vulnerable for a second and admit that I can speak fluent word-salad. (It’s a learned skill. It would be best to possess it in life, dear readers.)

What Emmert’s saying about Alston v. NCAA — which may soon help flip the paradigm of major college sports’ outright exploitation of young men for and women for profit — is that he and his “nonprofit” will never admit defeat. At least not in public.

And for a good reason: The NCAA’s fight to maintain their Vise-Grip over what amounts to free labor on the field, on the court(s), on the grass, in the pool, and in the ring, is a public relations battle. It’s one contested over a microphone, in front of people sitting in folding chairs while holding small recording devices. All decisions will, ultimately, evolve there.

The moment Emmert is honest and surrenders ground, even an inch, on the practice he and his cronies are trying to uphold is the exact moment they lose forever. If there’s still an opening, no matter how small, to influence public opinion and sway legal experts at the very top of the American legal system — then Emmert and Co. will do everything in their power to use it and pry it open.

I’m aware I might be preaching to the choir, but the NCAA has never been about amplifying and helping the “student-athlete.” As you also might know, student-athlete, in itself, is a key language choice. Emmert and his friends use a funny euphemism purely to uphold the segment of collegiate athletics that operates like a billion-dollar NFL or NBA organization behind a thin veil of valuable continuing education they don’t actually care about.

If the NCAA were about protecting students, or athletes, or any people at all, don’t you think there’d be more material substance and action to that than the usual dog-and-pony show? But there isn’t, and there may never be.

The only thing Emmert and his NCAA have ever cared about protecting is the lining of their pockets. He would’ve admitted outright defeat in a unanimous Supreme Court case if that weren’t true. You know, that same Supreme Court famous for having every serving Justice agree on setting a legal precedent.

They might pretend otherwise, but Mark Emmert and the NCAA know what they’re doing. It’s nothing to the benefit of young people who deserve better.

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NCAA moves quickly to adapt to changing landscape

The NCAA announced an upcoming constitutional convention that will alter the future of college athletics. The Board of Governors said it voted to approve a constitutional convention in November with the expectation to approve changes in January …

The NCAA announced an upcoming constitutional convention that will alter the future of college athletics.

The Board of Governors said it voted to approve a constitutional convention in November with the expectation to approve changes in January 2022.

Jack Degioia serves as the chairman of the Board of Governors and the president of Georgetown University and stressed the importance of the meeting in the NCAA’s release.

“As the national landscape changes, college sports must also quickly adapt to become more responsive to the needs of college athletes and current member schools,” DeGioia said. “This effort will position the NCAA to continue providing meaningful opportunities for current college athletes and those for generations to come.”

The constitution will be redrafted by a group of 22 dubbed the Constitutional Review Committee and features presidents, commissioners, athletics directors and students from all three divisions of the NCAA.

NCAA President Mark Emmert stressed the convention is not just about altering the function of the association but essentially starting from scratch.

“This is not about tweaking the model we have now,”  Emmert said in the release. “This is about wholesale transformation so we can set a sustainable course for college sports for decades to come. We need to stay focused on the thing that matters most — helping students be as successful as they can be as both students and athletes.”

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

Should student athletes be paid? NCAA president weighs in on the complicated issue.

NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert is urging Congress to pass legislation creating standards when it comes to student athlete compensation.

NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert is urging Congress to pass legislation creating standards when it comes to student athlete compensation.

NCAA President Mark Emmert non-committal about blanket waiver for NIL in 2021-22, Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon says

Four college basketball players representing the #NotNCAAProperty movement spent about 50 minutes Tuesday night with NCAA Pres Mark Emmert.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Hawk Central and has been republished in its entirety below. 

Four college basketball players representing the #NotNCAAProperty movement spent about 50 minutes on Zoom on Tuesday night with NCAA President Mark Emmert. They left the meeting disappointed over the responses they heard from Emmert surrounding name, image and likeness.

The athletes on the call — men’s basketball players Geo Baker of Rutgers and Jordan Bohannon of Iowa, and women’s basketball players Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Akienreh Johnson of Michigan — were requesting an endorsement from Emmert for the NCAA to issue a blanket waiver for NIL for the 2021-22 academic year. The request was made in large part because four states — Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and New Mexico — have passed laws that would allow college athletes to earn money from non-university sources (such as endorsement deals or camps) using their name, image and likeness beginning July 1.

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However, Bohannon — who spoke to the Des Moines Register after the meeting — characterized Emmert’s response as non-committal.

“He kept reiterating that he wanted Congress to make a decision,” Bohannon said. “I was very direct with him, saying that I think we both know Congress won’t act with it and the longer we wait, the more complex issue this becomes (July 1).”

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Bohannon said that when he asked Emmert what would happen after July 1 if athletes in those four states began making deals to profit off their name.

“He said he wouldn’t punish them,” Bohannon said. “I countered and asked what about the states that don’t have name, image and likeness? He really didn’t give much detail with that response. He said that he hoped something happened with Congress or the NCAA before that happens.”

Bohannon characterized the meeting as respectful but felt Emmert was talking down to the players at times. He did report the group was pleased with two developments – that Emmert affirmed his commitment to treating men’s and women’s athletes equally going forward, after disparities in the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments came to light in March; and that Emmert agreed to meet with the group again sometime in the next three weeks.

Bohannon was miffed that Emmert denied the group a request to meet with the NCAA’s Board of Governors. Bohannon said Emmert’s rationale was that athletes have never met with the Board of Governors, which is the NCAA’s top policy-making group. It is comprised of school presidents from all three of the association’s competitive divisions and five independent members. There are no athletes included.

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The NCAA’s Board of Governors and the Division I Board of Directors are scheduled to meet April 27 and 28, respectively. The Division I board is comprised mainly of presidents from schools at that level. It also includes one athlete representative.

Those governing panels seem likely to at least touch on the NIL issue when they meet. On April 1 in conjunction with the men’s Final Four, Emmert was asked what would happen if no action is taken by the association or Congress by July 1.

“We would go into a period in July that would be pretty chaotic, where we had some states that allowed it, some states that didn’t allow it,” Emmert said then. “And in each of the states, there would be different policies around what was or wasn’t permissible. So, between now and then, we’ll have to make some decisions about what the schools want to do under those circumstances and how we adjust to that new reality. But our hope is that we can get a bill passed in Congress that preempts that chaotic circumstance.”

Bohannon said another reason he urged Emmert to take action was to assist other players like him who are considering whether or not to return to school with extra eligibility that was granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bohannon has not yet made a decision whether to return to Iowa for a sixth season.

“If he just issued one blanket waiver,” Bohannon said, “we feel like it would solve a lot of issues.”

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Jay Bilas blasts NCAA president Mark Emmert for slow response to tournament inequalities

“It’s a shocking failure in leadership,” Jay Bilas said.

The difference between how the NCAA handled the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments this year is staggering.

From the initial weight rooms to the quality of the food to the swag bags and even the COVID-19 tests, the women’s teams, playing in San Antonio, have received appallingly unequal and subpar treatment compared with the men’s teams, which are playing in Indianapolis.

While some of these issues are being corrected, the problem is that the NCAA thought any of this was acceptable in the first place.

But ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas took his criticism a step further. A vocal advocate for the rights of college athletes, Bilas blasted both the NCAA’s initial setup differences for the men’s and women’s teams and NCAA president Mark Emmert’s slow response after photos and videos highlighting the massive differences went viral this week.

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Bilas called Emmert’s reaction “a shocking failure in leadership,” as NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt and NCAA vice president of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman apologized and tried to justify the amenities and treatments provided to the women’s teams.

On ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday, Bilas said:

“The NCAA men’s and women’s tournament are all under the same umbrella, and whatever was ordered for the men and was there for the men, should have been there for the women. That seems beyond reasonable discussion. What I found extraordinarily troubling was the response that we saw to when this was pointed out. And this is a question of leadership.

“Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, was nowhere to be found when this issue was being discussed. He let Lynn Holzman, the vice president of women’s basketball, step forward and take all of the flack on this. And you could tell from the emotional response of Lynn Holzman how devastating this was to her. The only leadership that I saw from upper management, the executive team at the NCAA, was from Dan Gavitt, who stepped forward after Lynn Holzman spoke and said, ‘This is on me. We apologize, and we will fix this.’

“And I can tell you, that’s the first thing that should have happened with Mark Emmert. He should have been out front and should have said, ‘This is unacceptable. It is on me. I’m the president of the organization. I am the responsible leader here, and we apologize profoundly, and we will fix this.’ But that’s not what happened. He was nowhere to be found, didn’t speak for over 24 hours after this.”

USA TODAY was one of three news outlets to speak with Emmert on Friday, and he reportedly blamed some of the inequalities on a lack of collaboration between the men’s and women’s committees.

As to the differences in COVID-19 tests, the NCAA is using PCR tests for the men’s teams and antigen tests for the women’s teams. About the tests, Emmert said, via USA TODAY:

“I’m not a medical expert so not going to get into a debate about PCR and antigen. All the health experts said the protocol that we’re using in all of our venues and all of our championships has no different at all in terms of our ability to mitigate risk.”

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Is the NCAA dead period set to end on April 15th or will it be extended again?

Is it possible the NCAA could extend the dead period once again? It certainly is as they get set to convene next week.

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It is coming up on a full calendar year since high school prospects have been able to visit college campuses on the schools dime. Back on March 13th of last year, the NCAA imposed a universal dead period that extended through June 20th, but a little more than a month before it was to end, the NCAA extended it once again.

The extensions kept coming, pushing the dates from the initial announcement all the way through April 15th of this year. Now with a scheduled meeting next Wednesday the 17th, another extension of the dead period could be happening once again.

Kevin Wade’s tweet shows that the Football Oversight Committee wants a six week extension of the dead period, again holding off recruits from visiting campuses to meet coaching staffs and tour the facilities.

Will more virtual visits like the one Notre Dame offensive line target Jake Taylor just had yesterday in store?

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It’s obviously not what any college coaching staff wants to do, but the adjustments have been made.

Who this really hurts are the recruits, not having the visit experience that classes in front of them have had. It would make the most sense to test a recruit and a family member of their choice prior to making a trip to see a school. If they’re positive, obviously they wouldn’t be able to go, but if they are in the clear, wear your masks and tour the school and meet with coaches.

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The NCAA has had almost a year to figure out the best way to combat COVID with recruits visiting schools. To me they just seem to be pushing the dead period back and hoping it figures it out on it’s own. Once again, the NCAA and president Mark Emmert are dropping the ball if they opt to extend the dead period, hurting the student-athletes they’re meant to protect.

NCAA postpones fall championships for 2020

The NCAA has officially communicated the postponement of the fall championships for the 2020 season. Read more information on this decision.

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Well, ladies and gentlemen, the NCAA has officially postponed the fall championships for the 2020 season. This comes after the Big Ten, Pac 12, and Mid-American conferences all decided to either postpone or cancel fall sports including college football.

You can watch NCAA President Mark Emmert communicate the postponement of fall championships below, courtesy of Inside The NCAA on Twitter:

While the Big Ten and Pac-12 have postponed fall sports, other Power Five conferences are still heading towards a season including the SEC, ACC, and Big 12. Keep in mind, the NCAA does not organize the College Football Playoffs. As a result, the postponement of fall championships has no bearing on the College Football Playoffs.

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NCAA postpones fall championships

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced in a video interview yesterday that the NCAA has opted to postpone fall athletic championships…

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced in a video interview yesterday that the NCAA has opted to postpone fall athletic championships.

The NCAA needs half of its schools playing in order to hold championships and, as Emmert noted, this year that is not the case.

“Sadly, tragically, that’s going to be the case this fall,” Emmert said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t and can’t turn toward winter and spring and say ‘OK, how can we create a legitimate championship for all those students.’ … I’m completely confident that we can figure this out.”

Important note: this announcement does not affect the College Football Playoff as it is run by the conferences and not the NCAA.

Emmert also touched on the prospects of a spring football season, saying “Will it be normal? Of course not. It’ll be playing fall sports in the spring. Will it create other conflicts and challenges? Of course. But is it doable? Yeah. And we want to do that. We want to make it work for these students.”

So far only the Big Ten and Pac-12 of the Power Five conferences have postponed or cancelled their fall athletic competitions with the hope of playing in the spring, and only time will tell if the remaining three join them on the sidelines.

Locked on Longhorns podcast: ‘NCAA fall championships cancelled, UTEP update’

The Locked on Longhorns podcast discusses the latest announcement from the NCAA with cancelling fall championships. UTEP update as well.

The podcast returns the Friday edition to discuss the fallout of the conference cancellations. John Williams stops by to help breakdown the quarterback situation in Norman. Is Spencer Rattler the starter while competing in a “quarterback battle” with Tanner Mordecai? Plus the NCAA has announced no fall championships in 2020. Is this a power play to put pressure on the remaining six FBS conferences planning on playing?

UTEP recently had a coronavirus outbreak within their team that caused the Miners to halt practice. Adrian Broaddus of ESPN El Paso brings us up to speed on the latest happenings. What are the expectations for UTEP and will they travel to Austin to play on September 12th?

Plus an interview with Locked on Saints’ Ross Jackson. The Saints have three former Longhorns poised to make the team this year. What are the expectations of Malcolm Roach and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. How can the Saints use Humphrey in year two and why did Roach’s production suffer at Texas?

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