William C. Friday, recently honored with the NCAA President's Gerald R. Ford Award at the 2005 NCAA Convention, is stepping down as chair of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics after having held or shared the position for the 15 years of the Commission's existence.

Friday, president emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, announced his decision at the Commission's most recent meeting February 7 in Washington, D.C. Thomas K. Hearn Jr., president of Wake Forest University and an original member of the Commission, will become chair March 1.

"Bill Friday has been the heart and driving force of the Knight Commission," said Hodding Carter III, Knight Foundation 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."

Among their agenda items, Knight Commission members heard a report from University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, chair of the Division I Committee on Academic Performance, who explained the recently adopted academic- reform initiatives regarding the Academic Progress Rate and the accompanying penalties that hold institutions accountable for student-athlete academic success.

Hearn and other Commission members commended NCAA President Myles Brand and the NCAA's presidential leadership for the recently adopted academic reforms. Hearn, an original member of the Knight Commission, called the measures "an indication of how far the NCAA has come in promoting the general outlines this Commission pointed out in its first report."

The Commission presented a series of recommendations in an initial 1991 report that focused on presidential control, academic integrity, financial integrity and independent certification of athletics programs.

"The current NCAA governance structure, which allows university presidents to set the agenda and institute change, is far better than what was in place 15 years ago," said 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."

Commission members also discussed the future role of the group, which is funded at least through 2005, though Carter indicated that the Knight Foundation would be willing to extend its support of the group as long as the Commission believes it has a viable role to play in monitoring intercollegiate athletics.

Hearn, who is retiring as president of Wake Forest at the end of this academic year after completing 22 years in the position, said the group discussed any number of areas in which the Commission has a vested interest, including sports-wagering issues, drugs and substance abuse in college sports, commercialization in postseason football and the integrity of high-school athletics.

Hearn and other members also were passionate about what he called "the ongoing culture clash between the world of entertainment and professional sports and the academic culture."

"I am deeply concerned about the growing influence in our athletics enterprise of the professional and entertainment culture and our relative inability from the perspective of the unive rsity to maintain an academic context for the work of the athletics department," he said. Hearn said every effort should be made to impose an academic culture upon athletics so that institutions admit student-athletes who have a chance to succeed academically,

Hearn said the Commission will prioritize issues in future meetings and "make determinations about where the work of the Commission can be most usefully invested."

The Commission also appointed co-vice-chairs to the group. They are Clifton Wharton, president emeritus at Michigan State University and former CEO and chair of TIAA-CREF, a pension fund primarily serving colleges and universities, and R. Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University.