Plans for March Madness
New NCAA president embraces tourney proposal:
New NCAA president Mark Emmert wants to resolve the thorniest issues in college sports.
Does the men's basketball tournament need more than 68 teams? Should there be a college football playoff? How will universities and athletic departments deal with tighter budgets?
Emmert doesn't pretend to have all those answers less than 24 hours after accepting his new job, but the University of Washington president way he intends to find the solutions has a familiar look.
"I think that (being a president) is one of the most important attributes that I have here," Emmert said during a conference call Wednesday. "I've sat in those chairs. I've worked in a variety of contexts in higher education, I've seen the situation on the ground and I understand the trade-offs one has to make."
Earlier this month, NCAA officials announced there were proposals to go to 80 or 96 teams before opting for the more modest number after the TV networks said more games were not needed to increase the bid. Emmert said he will wait until after the new expansion is approved before discussing any future move.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called on the NCAA to link academic performance to team eligibility in the postseason tourney.
Emmert agrees with the sentiment, not the approach.
"The broader issue is making sure that every institution has appropriate graduation rates regardless of whether they compete in the tournament," he said. "I think at the end of the day, Secretary Duncan had the right idea but probably the wrong metric. We need to make sure that we get high quality performance in the classroom as well as on the field."
The NCAA tourney isn't the only championship being discussed these days.
Emmert has been asked for his thoughts on a college football playoff, one of the biggest debates every year. Officially, Emmert is following the company line, saying a decision rests with the university presidents, not NCAA officials who sanction the bowl games.
Still, Emmert sounds more prepared to play a role in the discussion than his predecessors.
"We're standing ready and willing to help them and think those things through," he said. "But at the end of the day, that's something the presidents will have to address."
The biggest challenge, however, may be finances.
With most states cutting funding to higher education, schools, such as Washington, are facing tighter budgets at a time that building or upgrading athletic facilities has become an essential part of attracting recruits.
"Athletics tend to be a very small fraction of institutional budgets," Emmert said. "At Washington, for instance, it's about 2 percent of the budget. So the question is how do you make sure athletics is integrated with the students? The role of the NCAA isn't, of course, to make the decisions, but to inform campuses by providing them with good information on how they can mitigate those costs and make sure no unfunded mandates are imposed on them."
From AP wire. For more, visit the Associated Press online.