The '12 IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, hosted by SBJ/SBD, kicked off today, and the Closing Bell offers a sampling of some of the memorable quotes from the first day's sessions:
NCAA President Mark Emmert, on rising coaches' salaries: "It's a free market, huge pressure, a limited number of skilled people. It's something that we all have to live with. I was asked the other day when will coaches' salaries be capped, and I said, 'When athletic departments run out of money,' and I wasn't being facetious."
Michigan State AD Mark Hollis on salaries: "There's been a trickle down effect. Not only the position of hiring somebody, it's retaining (coaches). If the likelihood of that offer were a reach out from another school ... you need to take care of it now. In many cases, this is what happened."
Emmert, on the failure of the athlete stipend: "I knew it was highly controversial. I didn't anticipate the reaction it provoked. We didn't do good diligence on this proposal."
Missouri AD Mike Alden, on moving to the SEC: "We weren't relevant in Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa-St. Pete. Our footprint went from 45 million households in the Big 12 to 89 million overnight. To expose Missouri to a broader audience has been a driving factor in all of this."
Hollis on Big Ten realignment: "Nebraska involved a dating process before we got married. With Rutgers and Maryland we got married and now we're trying to figure out how to live under the same roof."
N.C. State AD Debbie Yow: "If the money were the same, nobody would be switching [conferences]. It's all about the money."
UConn AD Warde Manuel on traditions lost by realignment: "There's a lot of concern among the fan base that the things that 'I grew up knowing and loving are changing in front of me and it's going to have a negative impact on me.'"
Yow, on traditions: "There will be some pain as anybody changes conferences, there's no appreciation for the history of that particular school. Maryland played Duke in men's basketball. Tens of thousands of alums are familiar with that tremendous rivalry, and it died."
Univ. of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman on moving to a college football playoff: "Controversy is not going to go away. There's enormous pressure to extend to eight and 16 schools. I don't think it's particularly stable over the next 12 years."
See a full agenda for the conference and get continual updates via Twitter hashtag #sbjiaf.
