Similarly to the way he felt when he interviewed for the job as athletic director at Iowa, Bob Bowlsby went into his meeting with the search committee charged with hiring a new NCAA president in 2003 thinking he had no chance at the job.
In fact, he told the committee as much, suggesting it was a fait accompli that the fourth person ever to serve in the role would be a university president. And he was correct. They hired Indiana University President Myles Brand, who served from 2003 to 2009. Brand was followed by University of Washington President Mark Emmert, who held the role until earlier this year, when he was replaced by former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.
The shift in pedigree of NCAA presidents is reflective of an evolution on campuses across the country — one that Bowlsby said he finds unsettling.
“As much as we have other things going on right now, if you ask me what the most troubling trend is in college athletics, it’s that presidents are firmly in charge and that they are subject to the whims of board members who sometimes know what they’re talking about and sometimes don’t know what they’re talking about,” Bowlsby said. “You see boards of trustees and regents today that act like professional team ownership groups. And it’s a very unhealthy environment.”
