NCAA VP/D-I Governance DAVID BERST "will retire this summer" after a 43-year NCAA career and "will be replaced by KEVIN LENNON," according to the AP. Berst, who has served in his current role for the past 17 years, presided over "some of the biggest scandals in NCAA history," including SMU football's "death penalty" in the late '80s. Berst, "who was ill at the time, passed out in a hot, crowded room after making the announcement on SMU's campus." He also "was around for some landmark legal decisions," including the '84 Supreme Court case that "allowed conferences and schools to negotiate their own television contracts for college football." Meanwhile, the NCAA also announced that Managing Dir of Academic & Membership Affairs DIANE DICKMAN will become Managing Dir of D-I Governance. Dickman joined the NCAA in '96 "after six years in athletics administration" at Tulsa (AP, 3/25). CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd wrote Berst has been "a classy, infamous, tireless face" of the NCAA and a "dogged defender of NCAA ideals" (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/25).
