The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s Brad Wolverton recently posted a blog which asked several individuals what the hiring committee should be asking. He posted the following as best responses: What would be your top three priorities as NCAA president? —Nathan Tublitz, past co-chair, Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, and professor of biology, University of Oregon What…
Bloomberg News published an article which included an analysis of severance packages to athletic coaches in the six largest NCAA Division I athletic conferences. The article stated that $38.6 million was paid out as of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. In all, more $79.5 million was paid out in the past three years…
The New York Times published an article with several viewpoints about the costs and benefits relating to expansion of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from 65 to 96 teams. The NCAA is currently reviewing whether or not to opt-out of the current three year, $6 billion CBS television contract and renegotiate the contract seeking more…
A USA Today cover story looked at the rising costs of the compensation for NCAA Division I college basketball coaches, and the significant amounts institutional support of athletics at many institutions. The report includes a database disclosing the earnings of the coaches with teams in the 2010 men’s basketball tournament and a database of NCAA…
SFgate.com reported on the endeavor by University of California at Berkeley (UC) Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to begin discussions among a new panel of stakeholders to find ways to make the athletics department less dependent on institutional support. The panel includes philanthropic supporters of university athletics who will work side-by-side with faculty from the Academic Senate.…
The Maine Campus reported that the University of Maine athletics department is projected to report a loss of $7.3 million in the fiscal year 2009-2010. In the article, the cost of athletics was put into contrast with the spending for instructional support, which has steadily decreased over time. The paper noted that the institution allocated…
In late March, the Iowa Board of Regents voted to consider eliminating or reducing the use of general fund money (revenue from taxpayers and students) for intercollegiate athletics. The Des Moines Register reported on the debate as athletic departments in the state’s three largest public universities — the University of Iowa (U of I), Iowa…
A commentary from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, posted on ESPN on March 25, 2010: “It is time to boost graduation rates for a number of NCAA tournament basketball teams with poor academic records and indefensible disparities in the grad rates of white and black players. In 2001, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics…
At its most recent meeting, the NCAA Division I Leadership Council discussed a variety of cost-saving measures that would be broad enough to help both larger and smaller institutions. However, the NCAA News reported that the board members “also believed that the topic needed a more expansive approach to make real headway toward reducing expenses.”…
On the heels of the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, published comments on the need for American major colleges and universities to impose policies which prohibit postseason competition of teams who fail to graduate at least 40% of their athletes. Stated Secretary Duncan, “It’s a low bar, frankly,…