Rick Pitino caused the NCAA problems yet Dr. Mark Emmert just goes on with almost no criticism of his lack of performance in NCAA oversight.
For some inexplicable reason, Dr. Mark Emmert, who is the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, does not raise the ire of fans like NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell or the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The NCAA President has had a horrendous run during his term starting with the Penn State Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse cases in Pennsylvania to sexual abuse cases at Baylor University to Larry Nassar and Michigan State and the Louisville problems with Rick Pitino. There is also an ongoing FBI probe of the college basketball industry. It seems though that the NCAA, as the governing body of America college sports, is interested in just one thing. Make sure players don’t get paid for their work in any sport and make the players understand they are just cannon fodder in the system and their jobs are to shut up about getting paid and play and maybe get a college degree along the way.
Dr. Emmert issued a warning to the National Basketball Association last week. Find a place for teenagers who want to get paid and play basketball because college is not going to pay the players because college sports is strictly an amateur endeavor. In Dr. Emmert’s estimation if players get paid, they won’t follow rules. The NCAA President must not be aware many well paid coaches don’t follow the rules, whatever those rules are that college presidents or chancellors invent.  Dr. Emmert also said that the NCAA has no interest in turning college athletes into employees who can get hired and fired. Perhaps someone needs to tell the NCAA president that the term student-athlete was invented to get out of paying workman’s compensation for college players. Dr. Emmert’s job should be in jeopardy based on the various incidences’ during his tenure but the NCAA has great revenue streams and saves money by not paying players. He has done his job.
