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Is this a case of the blind-leading-the-blind?

MIAMI, Fla. – William C. Friday, the founding chair of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics who led the charge to preserve the integrity of college sports, is stepping down from the post after 15 years. Dr. Thomas K. Hearn Jr., president of Wake Forest University and an original member of the Commission, will become chair March 1, while R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University, Clifton Wharton, former CEO and chairman of TIAA-CREF, will both assume the newly created position of vice chair.

Joining the Knight Commission at a meeting today here were 10 members of the original commission that issued its groundbreaking report in 1991 – Keeping Faith with the Student-Athlete: A New Model for Intercollegiate Athletics.

The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, former co-chair of the commission with Friday, joined the group via telephone conference. The current and former commissioners met together to consider the Knight Commission’s future and to offer their support for the commission’s new leadership.

The commission heard a report from Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford and chair of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, concerning the recently adopted NCAA academic performance program. The program will require Division I teams to stay on track to graduate at least 50 percent of their athletes to avoid the risk of losing scholarships beginning with the upcoming academic year. In its 2001 report, A Call to Action: Reconnecting College Sports and Higher Education, the commission recommended that eligibility for postseason competition be reserved for teams that graduate at least 50 percent of their players.

Harrison noted that teams will be ineligible for postseason competition and even harsher sanctions under the new program if they chronically underperform academically. Harrison also provided NCAA data that show that if the standards were currently in effect, more than half of all Division I institutions would have at least one sports team subject to penalty. The majority of those teams at risk of failing to meet the new standards are football, baseball or men’s basketball squads.

The commission reaffirmed its commitment to continue its work to improve the collegiate experience and academic success of athletes, working closely with the NCAA. The commission commended NCAA President Myles Brand and the NCAA’s presidential leadership for the recently adopted academic reforms. “The current NCAA governance structure, which allows university presidents to set the agenda and institute change such as the recent academic reform measures, is far better than what was in place 15 years ago when Bill Friday’s vision and leadership led the Knight Commission to recommend significant change,” said Dr. Hearn. “We look forward to a continued partnership with the NCAA leadership to achieve an environment where athletics are in balance with the academic missions of our institutions.”

During Friday’s tenure, a significant number of the commission’s recommendations, issued through a series of reports, were ultimately enacted by the NCAA. Among the specific recommendations accepted was a new model for governing intercollegiate athletics – shifting control from athletic administrators to college presidents working to ensure academic integrity, financial integrity and independent certification.

“Bill Friday has been the heart and driving force of the Knight Commission,” said Hodding Carter III, Knight’s president and CEO, and an ex-officio member of the commission. “He has done this group proud and the world of college athletics proud. Under Tom Hearn’s leadership, we will continue Bill’s fine work to ensure that both sports and academics at our nation’s universities thrive and prosper.”

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Friday, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina, was ranked the most effective public university president in the nation in 1986 by a study by the Council on Advancement and Support of Education. He has served in a number of leadership roles on national committees, among them the Association of American Universities, the Commission on White House Fellows and the Presidential Task Force on Education under two administrations.

He has been honored with many awards for his service, including the National Humanities Medal and the American Council on Education’s Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement.

In January, the NCAA honored Friday with its second annual President Gerald R. Ford award for the advocacy of intercollegiate athletics. “Bill Friday has been a prominent and important figure in public affairs for many years and his career has had a major impact on higher education over the past 60 years,” said the NCAA’s Brand. “He continues to serve higher education and intercollegiate athletics well and his 15 years of service to the Knight Commission has been a major contribution.”

Incoming chair Tom Hearn has been a member of the Knight Commission since it was formed in 1989. Dr. Hearn will retire as president of Wake Forest at the end of this academic year after completing 22 years in the position, one of the longest tenures in major American universities. During Dr. Hearn’s presidency, Wake Forest gained recognition as a national university and is continually ranked among the top 30 national universities in the country.

Incoming vice chair Gerald Turner is in his 10th year as president at Southern Methodist University. He previously served as the chancellor of the University of Mississippi for 11 years. He has been active in NCAA leadership positions, serving on the presidents commission, as the founding chair of the NCAA Certification Committee, and on the board of directors.

Incoming vice chair Clifton Wharton is president emeritus at Michigan State University where he served for eight years and former chancellor of the State University of New York system where he served for nine years. When he was appointed CEO of TIAA-CREF, he became the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in October 1989 in response to more than a decade of highly visible scandals in college sports. The goal of the Commission is to study and report on reform efforts that recognize and emphasize academic values in an arena where commercialization of college sports often overshadowed the underlying goals of higher education. The Commission, which presented a series of recommendations in an initial 1991 report, and subsequently in A Call to Action in 2001, continues to monitor and report on progress in increasing presidential control, academic integrity, financial integrity and independent certification of athletics programs.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. For more information on the Knight Commission, visit www.knightcommission.org

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Whatever it really is , I view it as positive exposure for the University. We need all of the positive exposure we can get especially if it is sports related.

MustangBill67 wrote:

Whatever it really is , I view it as positive exposure for the University. We need all of the positive exposure we can get especially if it is sports related.

Or, perhaps instead, our date for the prom just got sick an hour before we were supposed to pick her up. [/b]

paper tiger -

can't see anything positive happening here, especially if they throw these kids in underwater basket weaving & golfing courses just to save their graduation rates -