There’s a reason NCAA President Mark Emmert draws a yearly compensation package in excess of $1.7 million. Many reasons, actually.
The NCAA netted a $32 million profit in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Emmert handles dicey questions without getting flustered, a skill he displayed Monday during a City Club of Chicago luncheon.
And, really, who in his or her right mind would want a job defending practices that so much of America deems indefensible?
Even for people like me who lean traditional — thumbs down to “pay-for-play” salaries — it’s hard not to be disgusted by some of the slop Emmert serves. Granted, as he pointed out several times, Emmert does not make the rules. But he is the face of those who do.
When I asked about an NCAA enforcement staff that seems overwhelmed — a kind way of saying incompetent — and whether schools fear getting caught for violating rules, he replied: “For the life of me, I’m not quite sure where that comes from. When I see the data of what that enforcement department is doing, they are incredibly active. That’s an incorrect characterization of what’s going on.”
Hmmm … A program such as Miami can mock the rules for years and barely get punished. Oklahoma State is under investigation only because Sports Illustrated documented a cash payment system orchestrated by an assistant coach and widespread academic fraud. And how about those world-class scribblers Jameis Winston and Johnny Manziel?
“The Johnny Manziel case was handled by the institution,” Emmert replied. “That was an outcome that Texas A&M felt was appropriate.”
Yeah, Texas A&M felt it appropriate to suspend Manziel for a half. Against Rice.
“The reinstatement case came to the NCAA, and they wound up where they did because there wasn’t proof that anything illegal had occurred,” Emmert said.
If that doesn’t make you smack your forehead, you should at least be shaking it.
On the larger issue of athletes profiting off their names and likenesses, Emmert said the NCAA is wary of schools guaranteeing six-figure paydays for autographs.
“It’s hard to imagine where you would put a cap on it,” he told reporters. “Would it become a free, open-market bidding war between universities? If that’s what people want, they can have that. Absent a vehicle for controlling it, it’s hard to see how it doesn’t become a wide-open bidding war.”
He told the audience: “The other component is, the presidents of universities have steadfastly said that they want to provide everything a student-athlete needs to be successful in school and that they are playing their sport because they want to play their sport … that this is not about playing for pay. And the evidence is pretty overwhelming that that’s what they want. All you have to do is look at how many young men and women are trying to get a D-I scholarship.”
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What? So trying to get a Division I scholarship is evidence they don’t want to be able to sell their signatures?
Emmert’s speech, no surprise, focused on the 97 percent of student-athletes from the non-revenue sports. He said of the 1,100 colleges and universities that play sports, 22 had a “positive cash flow.”
Much of what Emmert said made sense, from the desire to guarantee multiyear scholarships (as the Big Ten just did) to joking about the creaky stage on which he paced — “It’s as sturdy as the NCAA” — to creating a “sensible model for post-eligibility.”
That model should require schools to pay for sports-induced surgeries and cover tuition costs to complete a degree.
Thankfully, Emmert opposes requiring aspiring athletes to delay turning pro, as dictated by leagues such as the NFL and NBA. I’ve always said: If the Johnny Manziels of the world feel exploited by college football, then don’t play college football.
“We don’t make writers or artists or musicians go to college if they don’t want to,” Emmert said. “A lot of baseball and tennis players and golfers don’t necessarily go to college. That’s fine.
“Our goal is not to have the best players on the field; it’s to have the best college students on the field or court. They need to want to be in school, not at school.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein