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OTL Report: Mark Emmert's Leadership Only Compounding NCAA's Problems

The sanctions announced for Penn State Univ. after last year's child sex abuse case were "supposed to be the defining moment" of NCAA President Mark Emmert's tenure, but "instead of signifying his and the organization's status as tough on NCAA crime, it has become Emmert's Waterloo moment," according to Fish & O'Neil of ESPN.com. Fish & O'Neil write under the header, "NCAA's Emmert At Crossroads," in an "Outside The Lines" online report. Emmert's "leadership style, combative personality, and most of all, his decisions" since announcing the sanctions have "directly intersected with an NCAA in deep crisis." NCAA employees are "headed for the exits in droves, and instead of helping to alleviate the NCAA's problems, the man at the top may be compounding them." The "perceived crisis of Emmert's leadership also has dovetailed with an NCAA at a pivotal intersection of its own." The "drumbeat from BCS football-playing schools is growing steadily, with demands that they find their own place in the NCAA structure, apart from the other schools that look different, and most of all, spend differently." Those problems "aren't Emmert's doing; he inherited them." But there is "no doubt that, in the opinions of many, his mistakes and approach have helped sever the tenuous trust between membership and the association, and if Emmert remains at the helm amid such substantial change, it will be over the objections of some of the NCAA's most powerful school athletic administrators." But Wake Forest Univ. President and NCAA D-I BOD Chair Nathan Hatch said of the prospect of replacing Emmert, "We're not there. He's a very strong leader. He's done good things. I don't think we are there."

NO REGRETS? Emmert said he "can't think of one decision" he would take back as NCAA President. Described by some as a man who "never met a microphone he didn't love," Emmert is "great for the speaking circuit." But he is "not terribly in touch with his staff," and some of that "can be attributed to travel." Emmert estimated that he spends about 60-65% of his time "away from the office visiting campuses." Michigan State Univ. President and NCAA exec committee Chair Lou Anna Simon said of Emmert, "We hired somebody to be out there. He had a mandate to be more visible. Instead, it's made him a lightning rod" (ESPN.com, 7/22). Emmert: "I think the biggest challenge is trying to be as inclusive in all of the voices of the association as we're making decisions." He added of the NCAA's reform agenda, "If I were to go back and restart that, I would work hard to bring more people into those discussions earlier, so they felt better about the outcomes" (ESPN.com, 7/22).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

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On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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