Total Campus Report - Efficient & valuable curated higher ed developments delivered once per week. |
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Publication Update: Total Campus Report will be taking a break until January 8, 2023. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! |
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NCAA Selects Next President |
SBJ & The Athletic broke the news Thursday morning of the NCAA selecting Massachusetts Governor Baker to succeed President Emmert in the role starting March 1, 2023. Baker, a former MBB student-athlete at Harvard, has served two terms as governor and is credited with bringing bipartisan leadership to the commonwealth. Baker: "The NCAA is confronting complex and significant challenges, but I am excited to get to work as the awesome opportunity college athletics provides to so many students is more than worth the challenge. And for the fans that faithfully fill stadiums, stands and gyms from coast to coast, I am eager to ensure the competitions we all love to follow are there for generations to come.” (link)
+ More from Baker during his intro presser thanks to Sports Illustrated’s Dellenger: “I think it’s worth doing. Yeah, it’s big and complicated, but so have been a lot of things I’ve done in my life. [...] I've always believed sports have tremendous power to bring people together. We are in a bit of a pivotal period for the NCAA. [...] I think the transfer portal is one element of a whole series of elements that needs to be part of the conversation going forward.” (link)
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Insights & Reactions…
+ Knight Commission CEO Perko via the AP’s Russo on a key challenge for Baker: “The NCAA receives zero dollars from the CFP, but it remains liable for the legal and health costs of FBS football. The explosion of revenues, just for FBS football, is at the heart of much of the controversy about the future of all of college sports.” (link)
+ SI’s Dellenger: “The NCAA targeted several former governors in the search. The organization wanted someone politically connected and got it.” (link)
+ The Athletic’s Auerbach: “This hire — and finalist pool — certainly signals the priorities of the NCAA's highest governing body right now. Success in other sectors a plus. Political experience key. The position goes to someone who had not previously worked in college sports (like recent P5 commish hires).” (link) + D1.ticker/Fox Sports’ Fischer: “Charlie Baker turns 67 next year and replaces a 69 year old retiring Mark Emmert. Does not portend to be a long term hire by the Board of Governors, but one chiefly focused on one issue only: getting that antitrust exemption.” (link)
+ The Athletic’s O’Neil: “This is the NCAA’s idea of out-of-the-box thinking. As transformations go, opting for a politician over a university president is like splitting the last hair on a bald man’s scalp. [...] He hits all of the W columns, and no, that’s not wins. He’s White, well-educated and wealthy, thanks to his job running a healthcare company. (He’s also about to get wealthier. His government job paid just $185,000; Emmert made $2.99 million.) [...] The NCAA chose him for one reason: not to transform the NCAA, but to protect it.” (link)
+ Extra Points purveyor Brown: “We're about to enter what should be an especially polarized legislative environment. Will Baker be able to make friends with lawmakers that he could afford to ignore while he was Governor? Could he replicate his governing coalition to ignore extremist types? Is such a thing even possible now? [...] It's still a complicated and quirky industry, but it's clear that the skill sets have shifted. Baker has a lot of experience in delegating and getting up to speed on new industries. How big of a deal will it be that he's never led a university or an athletic department before? Will he be swallowed up by the proverbial system, or will he have the 'juice' to push through any changes?” (link)
+ ESPN’s Thamel and Connelly on Baker’s position, with Thamel noting: “I think the first problem that Charlie Baker is going to have is you don't have control of football and football controls everything. … Also, Charlie Baker, welcome to your job, you have the single worst television contract in the history of college athletics – the NCAA basketball television contract which runs through 2032.” Connelly: “This job matters a lot and could matter and if Charlie Baker can come in and not just basically beg Congress to save all the things that NCAA is doing wrong, right now, if they're going to actually create a path moving forward … It would be amazing if the NCAA actually just sort of with whatever power it had actually stepped in and tried to provide leadership and a vision.” (link)
+ U.S. Representative Trahan (D-MA), a former Georgetown Volleyball student-athlete: “Governor Baker has been an extremely effective leader in Massachusetts, having steered our Commonwealth through some of the most difficult moments in recent history. The NCAA is at an inflection point where athletes and the millions of fans who root them on have largely lost faith in it as an organization. The association desperately needs a proven leader who personally understands the unique needs of the nearly 500,000 college athletes it serves and who is prepared to do what’s necessary to right the ship.” More from Sportico’s McCann & Caron. (link)
+ Interestingly, per Morning Consult, Baker is America’s most popular governor. (link) |
Here’s the full transcript from yesterday’s intro presser with new NCAA President Baker. Notably: “I’ve always just believed that sports have this tremendous power to bring people together. You just see it over and over again, the way in which athletics can transcend so many other divisions. I really do believe that we are at a bit of a pivotal period for the NCAA, and I really do think that the enthusiasm, the life and professional experiences I've had, the people I've gotten to know, the relationships I have can be a big part of helping all the folks involved in the NCAA, wherever they fit in that very significant organization, benefit from what we can put together going forward if we work together. [...] I think one of the things the job is, is it's an exercise in listening. My father always used to say to me that you will learn a lot more listening than you will talking. I think in my career, both in the public and private sector, one of the things I've done very well is listen. [...] For me, when people talk about the transitional period and the number of different things that are going on at this point in time, the question becomes how do you figure out a way to build a platform and get the support for that platform given where everybody sits and stands that can work going forward to serve the very different elements of the very large NCAA constituency, so that jewel, that opportunity that young people have to be part of a team, to learn about themselves and to build a foundation which in many cases will frame the rest of their lives can happen. That to me is the jewel.” (link)
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Charlie’s Challenges…
+ Sports Illustrated’s Forde: “For now, let’s grant Baker the benefit of the doubt and assume he will have some legitimate influence and stature. If that’s the case, four of the six most powerful people in college athletics will have arrived within the past three years—and from completely outside the space. … Now, the NCAA is going straight politician. The last career campus administrators in the group are Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey and Atlantic Coast Conference commish Jim Phillips. The pivot away from that profile, which had proliferated for decades, indicates how badly the previous generation screwed things up by being stubborn, tone deaf, greedy and myopic. It also indicates the shifting needs of the constituents. The conferences want deal-makers who can market them to media companies for the highest possible dollar. The NCAA wants someone who can convince politicians to produce legislation that keeps the association viable and out of its current barrage of lawsuits.” (link)
+ The Athletic’s Staples: “If you are relying on the federal government to produce the framework of the rules your business will run by, you’re not doing it right, but that’s what they think they have to do instead of just actually figuring out a solution on their own. … It’s clear what they want to do is have a voice in Washington D.C. and do this politically, instead of just coming up with common sense solutions for how to get their arms around this. It doesn’t mean it is impossible to figure this stuff out, but just thinking ‘Oh we’ll hire a politician and he’ll get Congress to save us,’ it’s not smart.” (link)
The Athletic’s Auerbach joins Connect/D1.ticker’s Fischer to discuss the appointment of new NCAA President Baker. Auerbach, who alongside SBJ broke the news: “I think they expected more of a response when they told me the name, but some people had gotten in my ear recently about politicians connected to Massachusetts and had pointed out that Baker was not running for reelection, so it was definitely a surprise, but it wasn’t totally out of the blue like some of these past hires, like the Big 12, Big Ten or Pac-12 hires. [...] But what I have been told about the finalists pool and others involved, this was not an outlier hire. [...] It really points to what the NCAA believes it needs right now to ensure its future looks somewhat like its past or at least the important tent pole items continue to exist.” On what feedback Auerbach has heard from industry sources: “A lot of people think it’s a good hire. There’s a lot of optimism around it. [...] The idea of having someone with a bipartisan background, even though dealing with this Congress is going to be a different thing, but I think people like the idea of someone who is going to be able to build bridges.” Lots more background on the search & what it means for membership. All on Connect. (link)
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Sports Illustrated's Johnson details what an HC search looks like from an AD’s perspective and notes that search firms can serve a number of purposes. “Sometimes it can just be for the logistics of setting up interviews to keep the process extremely close to the vest. Some other commonly cited reasons to hire a search firm have to do with plausible deniability, confidentiality and to cover your bases on a background check.” Anachel CEO Cecil tells Johnson HCs “are de facto CEOs. Good athletic directors and even general managers understand the importance of having a coach who understands, and is prepared to be that public-facing CEO. It is more than the X’s and O’s. The X’s and O’s are why they’re in the room, however, staying in the room can be impacted overnight by a reputational fumble of their public persona. Progressive ADs or GMs want to do everything that they can to make sure that that their football CEO is not only representing their billion-dollar business but their constituents, which are thousands of student-athletes, [players], alumni, donors, boosters, legislators, and supporters who where their logo across the globe. The business has changed.” Lots more. (link); The Athletic’s Ubben writes on why more (and longer) guaranteed football head coaching contracts are going to hit the market. An unnamed AD: “When something like this happens a few times in college sports, it’s only going to be more and more accepted and the outlier eventually becomes the norm.” Another: “You can say you won’t make a deal like that, but in the new market, not making a deal like that is the difference between getting a coach and not getting him.” Ubben: “Drawing that line and hiring a coach who doesn’t measure up to the success that other big-time candidates surely would have had (imaginary success, it’s worth reminding) is a gamble that could cost an athletic director his or her job. Do the big contract? Write the big check? An athletic director can more easily point to the market rate or the pressure from boosters and pass the blame if it doesn’t work.” (link)
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Duke appointed a 13-member search committee to work with executive search firm Spencer Stuart to identify candidates for the university’s next Provost. (link); the university also named a 12-member search committee to conduct a national search, with support from Heyman Associates, to identify the next vice president of communications, marketing and public affairs. (link); Duke appointed a nine-member search committee to work with Human Capital Consultants, LLC, to identify the university’s next vice president for human resources. (link)
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North Carolina AD Cunningham will take over the seat of former Duke AD White on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic board of directors starting next year. (link) |
Notre Dame tapped Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Chair Go as vice president and associate provost for strategic planning, effective June 1. In the newly-created position, Go will take on a leadership position in the university’s strategic framework process, while also remaining an active research faculty member. (link) |
Syracuse Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer Ter Molen will step down from the position on December 31 to assume a similar role at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Special Advisor to the Chancellor Barlock will serve as interim chief advancement officer. (link) |
Syracuse named Cornell Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Opperman as the next senior vice president and University secretary to the Board of Trustees, effective January 2. (link) |
Virginia Vice President for Finance Bianchetto will retire in early February after serving the university for more than a quarter century. (link) |
Wake Forest Senior Vice President and General Counsel Morgan will retire on June 30, 2023, following four decades of service to the Demon Deacons. Morgan will continue to serve as Secretary for the Board of Trustees through the 2023-24 academic year. (link) |
Wake Forest Provost Gillespie and the Core Planning Team identified five working topics to guide the university’s next strategic framework process: enriching the student experience, framing the future of excellence in learning, enhancing impact through research, scholarship and creative work, supporting the well-being of the local community and engaging in sustainable partnerships locally and globally. (link)
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The National Science Foundation released its updated data tables on Higher Education Research and Development for FY21. In its list of all higher education institutions based on total R&D expenditures, Duke leads the ACC at 11th nationally with $1.24B, followed by North Carolina at 13th ($1.21B), Pittsburgh at 18th ($1.14B) and Georgia Tech at 20th ($1.11B) in the top 20. Full list in Table 5. (link)
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In the state of South Carolina, a new bill has been filed that would allow Division I schools in the state, including Clemson, that generate $50M+ in athletics revenue annually to pay football and men’s and women’s basketball players stipends based on the time the student-athletes spend on their sport. The annual amount of the stipend is calculated by multiplying the number of hours spent by the hourly rate the school uses for work-study programs. The stipends would be classified as financial aid, not income, and would be in addition to athletic scholarships. There is also a trust fund with a max of $5K added per year for good academic standing, distributed upon graduation (up to $25K). Lots more from attorney Winter, including “So this bill is basically an attempt to create a way for athletes to be paid by schools (beyond their athletic scholarship and Alston payments) without classifying them as employees.” (link)
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The National Science Foundation will fund $195.5M over the next five years for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State and administered with partner sites at Florida and Los Alamos. (link) |
Georgia Tech AD Batt announces GT has surpassed its $5M goal for the Competitive Drive Initiative from a combined $2.5M in gifts and a $2.5M match from the GT Foundation and will subsequently up the goal for donations to $3.5M through the end of the year. (link) |
Syracuse alumna and The Enlight Foundation President Liu made a $2M gift to the Forever Orange Campaign. Coupled with matching funds from the Forever Orange Faculty Excellence Program, the total will reach $3M and create The Alexia Endowed Chair, as well as support grants, teaching, research, fellowships and programmatic opportunities. (link) |
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The Florida Department of Education and State University System of Florida Board of Goverors met with leaders of nearly every higher education institution in the state in a closed-door meeting on December 7, releasing only this statement from the Board of Governors: “The presidents of the State University System and the Florida College System met on Wednesday to discuss System-wide educational goals regarding accreditation and 2+2 articulation. It is critical the two public higher educational systems in Florida work collaboratively to share best practices on issues which greatly benefit Florida’s students.” Per sources with knowledge of the meetings, the state is in the process of searching for a new accreditor, in part due to concerns raised by the SACSCOC about various issues at Florida and Florida State, and is targeting the Higher Learning Commission. According to reporting by Inside Higher Ed, switching accreditors would cost between $11M-$13M annually with an annual expense of maintaining accreditation running approximately $250K. More. (link)
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The Louisville Faculty Senate approved the closure of a Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering degree program due to its similarity with the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering also offered by the Department of Industrial Engineering. (link) |
Virginia Tech signed MOUs with Virginia State and VMI, defining accelerated pathways for VT’s master’s programs in computer science and computer engineering. The program will allow students at VMI and VSU to take courses towards a VT graduate degree as part of their school’s degree curriculum. (link) |
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Deals, Partnerships & Collaborations |
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Florida State partnered with Athlete Network to enhance communication with current and former student-athletes. (link) |
NC State will partner with telehealth provider AcademicLiveCare to provide every degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate student up to 12 free counseling sessions over the next year. (link) |
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