Though University of Oregon professor Nathan Tublitz agrees with the bulk of the Presidential Task Force report, he takes one important exception.

"I disagree with the notion that there is no imminent crisis," said the co-chair of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Tublitz said athletics is in a serious crisis, both financially and in academic integrity, fueled by a shift in societal attitudes toward sport and its relationship to academics.

He cited the domino effect of professional athletes getting larger, college athletes being the same size that professional athletes were 20 years ago (and spending more time getting that way), high school athletes specializing in one sport at an earlier age and middle school athletes being recruited.

"That all over-emphasizes athletics," he said, "which is contrary to the NCAA’s stated mission of integrating athletics into the overall educational environment. That seems to have been turned around to where academics is being integrated into the athletics environment. The NCAA has tried to put the student back into the student-athlete, but the NCAA can’t do that alone — it needs presidents and faculty to support that goal."

While the Task Force cited presidents as the main leaders, Tublitz said faculty may play an even more important role in the integration piece of the reform puzzle. The typical presidential tenure is too short these days, Tublitz said, for chancellors and presidents to cause significant change.

"So to make changes that have a long-term impact is not in the president’s best interests," Tublitz said, "especially when the president has to butt heads with trustees, donors, alumni and boosters, and students who are proponents of athletics — not to mention the athletics department themselves.

"The Task Force was right to call for presidential leadership, but the leadership is not going to occur in a vacuum. Presidents are going to have to be encouraged to make changes; they won’t do it on their own."

To Tublitz, the faculty is the proper instigator.

"Faculty must insist upon academic integrity, ensuring that every activity within the university, including intercollegiate athletics, falls within the educational mission, and that there is some sort of oversight to ensure that takes place," he said. "Faculty can insist upon fiscal transparency, for more involvement in athletics governance and for working closely with the president and the administration to ensure that the ideals and goals of the university are served by all segments of the university, including athletics."

The faculty senate Tubliz presided over in 2001-02 at Oregon already has acted in the way he suggests, though he said the "best practices" called for in the Task Force report will apply differently within the diverse Division I membership.

"What is a best practice for Oregon may not be for Vanderbilt or Northwestern or North Dakota State. Each school has to look inward," he said. "The Task Force report set the stage for faculty to raise the conversation level on intercollegiate athletics to get people thinking, talking and acting on issues that negatively affect our academic institutions."