Intercollegiate Forum: College Presidents Debate NCAA Sports

The 7th annual IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum presented by SportsBusiness Daily/SportsBusiness Journal began this morning at the InterContinental, The Barclay in N.Y. with a panel titled, "Presidential Leadership and Oversight of Intercollegiate Athletics." Panelists included Univ. of Georgia President Michael Adams, NCAA President Myles Brand, Penn State Univ. President Graham Spanier and Univ. of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher. 

The issue: How much of your time in a typical day is spent on athletics?
The skinny: Adams: Too much. I sometimes laughingly say it’s about a fifth of time and two-thirds of the emotional energy.
Zimpher: I do think that we have issues every day, (but) they don’t always rise to the level of the presidency. But there’s a consciousness about it simply because of the disproportionate coverage on sports. … My real invested time is balancing the budget, balancing the needs of athletics vis-à-vis all the other financial shortcomings that we have in institutions.
Spanier: It is at least 10% of my time and two-thirds of the psychic energy that is expended. Of course, 90% of that is about Joe Paterno. 

Brand Feels There Has Been A Professionalization Of College Coaches

The issue: Are coaches an integrated part of the school? Are they faculty?
Spanier: At Penn State we have a long history of our coaches teaching. It’s part of the culture … and one of my priorities is to keep the coaches connected to the rest of the university.
Adams: There are about eight or 10 people (in athletics) that basically give the University of Georgia the image that it has out in the broader community.
Zimpher: The degree to which the president and the athletic director are absolutely on the same page about the integration of the athletic program with the entire academic enterprise is critically important to how you think about the coaches and their role.
Brand: There is a professionalization of the coaching fraternity that’s taken place over the last decade or two that really leads not just to higher salaries and higher compensation, but also separation from the general campus. And over that period of time there’s been a concerted (effort) of trying to reintegrate the coaching profession back into the institution.

The issue: The idea of hiring coaches often has to be made quickly, often within a 24-48-hour period, or the school risks losing the candidate to another institution.
Adams: I am less inclined to respond to anything that involves $20M-plus as my last football contract did in 48 hours than I used to be. Some of the rush is artificial … and some of the worst hires that have been made in this business -- and I won’t name them -- have been made under at least a perceived threat of something having to happen in a 48-hour period. 
Spanier: We only make certain coaching changes every 50-60 years. … The pressures are great (on hiring coaches) and it’s not helped by the media frenzy.
Brand: The media attention is absolutely phenomenal, but it’s not a unique occurrence in universities.
Zimpher: There is also a sense in which the fan base has no idea we are a university. So there’s often a disconnect between what we’re doing in athletics and what we are at the university. … Probably the most relentless question I received in the course of a major athletic personnel decision was, "Was this the toughest decision you’ve ever made?" I guess what I found myself saying was, "No, but it was the most public."

The issue: What effect does the economy have on college sports?
The skinny: Spanier: The television contracts that we have … are a revenue stream that’s guaranteed on a multi-year basis. That’s not going to change much, and to the extent that any of those contracts involve some revenue-sharing, that relates mostly to advertising. That part will go down. … On the revenue side, intercollegiate athletics will see some impact, but it will be more moderated than problems that we’re having in the rest of the university budget. Problems, however, continue on the expense side.
Adams: I think athletics will be more insulated than most of the rest of the university.
Brand: We’re going to see more stress (with smaller conferences and schools) because the revenue streams will be more challenged. … I think there’s a real danger in seeing a narrowing of the number of sports and the number of opportunities as a result of this in the short run.
Spanier: Because of the capital markets, we will almost certainly see a slowdown in the arms race around facilities.