Over 50 full-time NCAA national office staff members are leaving Indianapolis in the coming weeks
Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Monitoring the Impact of NCAA National Office Staff Departures
Over 50 full-time NCAA national office staff members are leaving Indianapolis in the coming weeks
The Championships Operations Department will see the greatest number of staff departures
Smaller national office departments--including Research, Government Relations, and the Committee on Infractions--will see a high percentage of staff members leave
The prospective impact on the NCAA membership, including the anticipated increase in championships planning and hosting this spring, could place additional burden on member schools, sports commissions, and local organizers to make NCAA championships in Spring 2021 a reality
NCAA President Mark Emmert last week circulated a memo to NCAA membership describing the recent efforts of the NCAA national office to address staffing and budget concerns to “better meet the realities forced upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The memo noted that nearly 10% of the NCAA national office staff has elected early retirement or voluntary separation packages. The memo also pointed out that the national office, committees, and member schools and conferences are losing decades of experience. To be exact, there are reportedly 53 full-time NCAA national office staff members taking voluntary separation packages or agreeing to early retirement.
The following NCAA national office departments may face the greatest impact by this wave of departures:
18 Championships Operations staff members departing
3 Committee on Infractions Office staff members departing
4 Research Office staff members departing
4 Academic & Membership Affairs staff members departing
The number that jumps off the page in the context of the current academic year is the 18 Championships Operations staff members. In addition to being the highest overall figure within a specific department, the loss of these 18 staffers may have some near-term impacts on NCAA membership; namely, as it pertains to the NCAA’s plans of hosting fall sport championships in Spring 2021 to align with the already-scheduled winter and spring sport championships that run from February to June. Similar to critiques lobbed at perpetually expanding athletic departments and coaching staffs (especially football), the NCAA’s Championships Operations Department may have become bloated and needed right-sizing during this period of pandemic-induced austerity.
The staffing exodus has impacted not just championships operations, but the infractions process, too. According to the NCAA website, the Office of Committee on Infractions (OCOI) supports the Division I Committee on Infractions. The OCOI supports all three divisional Committees on Infractions by providing administrative support; logistical coordination; research; analysis; training; drafting; strategic planning; and other duties as assigned from time to time by the chair of the Division I Committee on Infractions. The OCOI consists of Joel McGormley (Managing Director); Shep Cooper (Director); Jim Elworth, Matt Mikrut, Heather McVeigh and Ken Kleppel (Associate Directors); and Evelyn Gross and Cindy McKinney (Assistant Coordinators).
From this eight-person staff, the NCAA reported that three OCOI staff members (37.5%) are departing, including Managing Director McGormley and Director Elworth. With the newly adopted Independent Accountability Resolution Process needing to coalesce with the current Division I infractions process and the spate of contested and complex men’s basketball cases stemming from the FBI investigation waiting in the wings, these OCOI staff departures could have impacts on case processing timelines and the loss of procedural expertise.
The NCAA’s Research Department is losing four staff members, including Managing Director Todd Petr. The Research staff’s role in serving and supporting the NCAA membership includes developing and managing student-athlete well-being surveys such as the GOALS and SCORE instruments. The Research staff also play a pivotal role in the academic-based research initiatives such as the Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate and other notable research such as the “Probability of Competing Beyond High School” findings. The NCAA membership’s ability to monitor, support, and educate student-athletes on matters of wellness and academic success while simultaneously facilitating informed policy decisions are directly buoyed by the NCAA Research staff. How the departures of these four staff members impact the membership’s ability to continue making data-driven, informed policy decisions for all three divisions moving forward will be something to watch.
The NCAA’s Government Relations Office also sees two staff members depart including Managing Director Abe Frank. This Office plays a pivotal role in monitoring federal and state legislative matters impacting the Association. What federal and state legislators are upto these days has heightened importance to the NCAA membership as it embarks on codifying student-athlete name-image-likeness policies in lock-step with legislative concepts sponsored by Congress.
A variety of other NCAA national office departments saw at least one staff member depart through this recent staffing measure. The impacted departments include Academic & Membership Affairs, Enforcement, Governance, I-T, Men’s Basketball, and the Eligibility Center, among others.
President Emmert went on to explain how the NCAA national office will adjust following these departures. “There is a plan in place to provide coverage for the work they were performing. It may mean that you will be working with different people and in some instances, it may present a learning curve.”
NCAA member schools and conferences have rendered difficult decisions around reductions in force, early retirements, and furloughs. The NCAA national office was not immune to the pandemic’s impacts on its financial outlook either. NCAA member institutions will need to navigate how NCAA national office staffing contractions could impact their operations from championship hosting to infractions case management to student-athlete eligibility processing.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
