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Check out a biography, calendar of appearances and more for NCAA President Mark Emmert at NCAA.org/president. Share your thoughts with him on Facebook here.

What to expect from new NCAA President Mark Emmert

Through previous speeches and interviews, new NCAA President Mark Emmert has given a preview of what he is thinking as he starts his tenure October 5. Here are some excerpts:

“The key is trying to get the penalties to line up with the bad behavior and getting others to change so that they play within the rules. That's not easily done, but … I think recent cases have had a positive impact in that department. I'm quite confident in that."

~ USA Today, “New NCAA Head May Beef Up Enforcement Staff,” Sept. 15, 2010

 

"I'm really pleased with how we're working with the universities and colleges to try to correct behaviors that are not in the school's best interests. Under my leadership, we're not going to see any diminutive effect of that effort. But I like where we're going right now."

~ Associated Press, “Mark Emmert Wants to Police Agents,” Sept. 14, 2010

 

"The priorities are student-athlete well-being and protection of the collegiate model that we all know and feel viscerally about, but that which we have to convert into language and actions that are meaningful to a public that doesn’t quite understand it – or if they do, they don’t always believe us. We have to fix that. The stronger the link is between our athletics programs and our academic programs – the more those athletics experiences are incorporated into the academic experiences – then we don’t have to talk about athletics and academics as separate entities but as part of the whole academic experience.”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert shares his priorities with DII presidents,” June 22, 2010

 

 “I said, ‘Isn’t it great that you and I are having a conversation about the academic success of our basketball teams?’ Ten years earlier that was an impossible conversation. There wasn’t anyone 10 years ago wondering what the Academic Progress Rates were for the schools in the Division I men’s basketball tournament because the APR didn’t exist. Now we have a serious conversation going on. We have you (presidents) and all of our colleagues around the country answering to reporters and parents and prospective student-athletes about how our student-athletes are doing academically. We are changing the debate inside intercollegiate athletics.”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert shares his priorities with DII presidents,” June 22, 2010

 

“The NCAA did a fabulous job of negotiating the most recent media rights agreement, but the $10.8 billion is what makes the headlines. Then you all go to your Rotary Clubs and say that in college sports we care about amateurism. And they look at you and say, ‘$10.8 billion and amateurism? Help me understand that.’ We have to make sure people know what we stand for and what we care about. Yes, we want to maximize our media contracts, but we have to talk about why. What do we do with those resources? Where does that money go? How does it enhance students’ lives? How does it help shape the championships across all our sports?”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert shares his priorities with DII presidents,” June 22, 2010

 

 “It is not a sin or fundamentally wrong (for the NCAA to increase revenues). It is a good thing to have more resources, if you are using those resources for the right purposes.”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert: Well-being of student-athletes the ultimate priority,” July 12, 2010

 

“It’s critical that, going forward, we make sure everyone understands that while the NCAA’s three divisions are distinctive, they also are joined by common values. The goals and values of student-athlete learning and well-being are the same, whether we’re talking about a football game at the Big House at Michigan or a soccer game at Hobart.”

~ NCAA.org, “President-elect meets Division III,” April 30, 2010

 

“What I know it signals (the NCAA hiring another university president as its leader) is that the NCAA is in fact a collegiate association first and foremost. That it's an integral part of higher education. When I met with the executive committee and in all my conversations with them, I said, 'Look, my personal emphasis first, foremost and always, is what do the actions of the NCAA mean for student athletes on the ground and in their personal development as young people? And I think that resonates well with membership, that this is, in fact, about a collegiate experience and not just about an athletic one.”

~ Fanhouse, “Incoming NCAA President Mark Emmert Discusses Realignment, BCS,” September 16, 2010

 

“Our mission is to be an integral part of higher education and to focus on the development of our student-athletes. The ongoing examination of the financial structure of intercollegiate athletics will be one of the things I will focus time and energy on.”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert: Well-being of student-athletes the ultimate priority,” June 23, 2010

 

“The fact that we have to grow diversity among the coaching ranks and administrative ranks is self-evident. Those are just facts.”

~ NCAA.org, “Emmert: Well-being of student-athletes the ultimate priority,” June 23,2010

 

 “We simply must make sure that our athletics programs represent all of the United States and all of our complexity. We have to be committed in higher education and intercollegiate athletics to the philosophy of promoting diversity in our work. We have much work to do, and I’m going to help you take that on.”

 ~ NCAA.org, “Emmert: Well-being of student-athletes the ultimate priority,” June 23, 2010

 

“Our ‘reason for being’ is to assist our members in providing the best educational and athletic experience for student-athletes. To that end, it is essential that we understand and appreciate the challenges that exist on campus today and be certain we are doing everything possible to support our membership in this extremely important endeavor.”

 ~ NCAA.org, “Focus on the Future,” August 13, 2010

 

“Our championships are one of the primary tools we have to enhance the student-athlete experience. We have advanced a handful of our championships into premier events, led by the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships.  I want to take advantage of what we’ve learned with those events and elevate the experience of student-athletes in other championship events. This will be a critical goal as we move forward.”

~ NCAA.org, “Focus on the Future,” August 13, 2010

 

“It has become clear to me that intercollegiate athletics has a great story to tell, and we need a focused approach that will take advantage of all the traditional modes of communications, as well as the Internet and other new media opportunities.”

~ NCAA.org, “Focus on the Future,” August 13, 2010