NCAA President Mark Emmert has "received a three-year contract extension" that runs through October '20, according to Ralph Russo of the AP. The NCAA BOG approved an extension during the convention last month in San Antonio and announced yesterday that it had "voted unanimously to make it a three-year deal with a one-year option." Emmert has held the position since '10. His tenure has "been marked by dramatic changes in the way the association does business, including granting the five wealthiest conferences the ability to create some rules without the approval of the other Division I conferences." With autonomy, schools "voted to increase the value of an athletic scholarship to include the full cost of attendance." The NCAA also has "faced constant pressure from lawsuits during Emmert’s time." The most "high-profile litigation has challenged the way schools compensate athletes while on scholarship" (AP, 2/1). YAHOO SPORTS' Graham Watson noted Emmert "currently makes" more than $1.3M in annual base salary. No financial details of the extension were released. While Emmert is "popular with his peers, he hasn’t garnered similar popularity with the public because of some of the high-profile cases that have landed on his desk, including the Penn State child molestation scandal and Northwestern’s attempt to unionize" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/1).
TIMING IS EVERYTHING: CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd noted the NCAA "snuck one past us Monday morning" by giving Emmert an extension. Dodd: “Coming when it did, the same week as National Signing Day and the Super Bowl, probably didn’t cause that much of a ripple, and it was probably intended that way. The NCAA has never been known for its crisis management.” The deal gives Emmert job security despite presiding over the “most turbulent time in NCAA history” (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/1). Dodd also wondered "what was the damn rush" for another extension. It was "more than eyebrow-raising Emmert had been extended previously" to '18 (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/1).
