NCAA president wants to listen

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

New NCAA president Mark Emmert wants to resolve the thorniest issues in college sports.

Does the men’s basketball tournament need more than 68 teams? Should there be a college football playoff? How will universities and athletic departments deal with tighter budgets?

Emmert doesn’t pretend to have all those answers less than 24 hours after accepting his new job, but the University of Washington president way he intends to find the solutions has a familiar look.

“I think that [being a president] is one of the most important attributes that I have here,” Emmert said Wednesday. “I’ve sat in those chairs, I’ve worked in a variety of contexts in higher education, I’ve seen the situation on the ground and I understand the trade-offs one has to make.”

Emmert’s first priority is to meet with longtime NCAA executives and listen to their advice.

The style rekindles memories of the late Myles Brand, the first university president to lead the NCAA and Emmert’s predecessor. Brand, like Emmert, had no experience running a college athletics department and started his tenure by immersing himself into the college sports world.

Brand used those early meetings to build support in the NCAA headquarters, establish relationships with coaches and students, and then used his experience and friendships to help build a consensus for change.

Emmert intends to take a similar approach with one of sports’ toughest jobs.