January 13, 2009

At NCAA's Annual Meeting, a Leader Is Conspicuous by His Absence

National Harbor, Md. — The NCAA’s president, Myles Brand, will miss most of the association’s annual meeting this week at this Potomac River resort, just outside Washington, because of an undisclosed medical condition.

Mr. Brand, who is 66, is a former president of Indiana University and the University of Oregon, and has been the NCAA’s chief executive since 2003. He announced today that he would forgo all but the final day of the convention for medical reasons.

“Having been blessed with good health all my life, it is particularly frustrating to have to miss significant portions of the convention,” Mr. Brand said in a memorandum sent this afternoon to NCAA members. “Nevertheless, I have promised to be a good patient and follow my doctors’ requests.” He provided no further details.

The only segment of the annual meeting Mr. Brand will attend will be final high-level meetings on Saturday, after many of the convention’s 3,000 attendees have gone home. Mr. Brand’s contract is up for renewal at the end of this year.

An outspoken president who often draws upon his experience as a philosophy professor when discussing college athletics, Mr. Brand has made the academic performance of athletes central to his tenure.

This week, at least, his voice will be noticeably absent. —Libby Sander

Comments

1. Perhaps Bobby Knight could serve as Mr. Brand’s proxy at the meeting….

   — Anonymous    Jan 14, 08:44 AM    #

2. I assume anonymous is referring to the fact Mr. Brand , then President of Indiana University, had the courage to fire Mr. Knight after years of Mr. Knight acting out. While Coach Knight has some worthwhile ideas about linking athletic scholarships to graduation rates his antics on the court and the way he treated student athletes -not so good.

   — mary ellen    Jan 14, 09:51 AM    #

3. I would be honored for Bobby Knight to teach any of my three sons about basketball, about life, about people. I wouldn’t trust Myles Brand or any other university president anywhere near my family.

   — Anonymous    Jan 14, 01:49 PM    #

4. Anonymous: Why not?

   — CMSMW    Jan 14, 02:09 PM    #

5. University officials are, by nature, greedy self-serving liars. The higher ranking the official, the greedier and more dishonest the official. I know this from personal experience.

   — Anonymous    Jan 14, 03:33 PM    #

6. What is the ‘n’ of your study finding this correlation of character and organizational rank?

   — Huh?    Jan 14, 11:42 PM    #

7. Time for Brand to take a hike.

   — mathew    Jan 15, 06:10 AM    #

8. Anonymous, re: Comment 5: I’m sorry for whatever personal issue you may have had, but your comment is inappropriate, unprofessional, and not relevant to this type of forum. Please refrain from common venting and join in the discussion with a more academic frame of mind.

   — HIED doc    Jan 15, 04:11 PM    #

9. trashing all of higher ed leadership in one swoop? i do not think that is fair. are all politicians greedy and corrupt? no, there are some bad apples (see: Ill. Gov.), but i can’t condemn all politicians. the NCAA, in my opinion, is a unyielding organization seeking to find ways to make themselves relevant. mr. brand leads this organization and I question their value in the collegiate community. he is a human being, so, get well, Dr. Brand.

   — Franklin    Jan 15, 08:45 PM    #

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