Mark Emmert, the NCAA's long-serving president, announced his retirement from the organization on Tuesday. Emmert, who has led college sports' top organization since 2010, will stay on until a new president is hired, or until June 30, 2023, whichever comes first.
"Throughout my tenure, I've highlighted the importance of focusing on student-athlete experience and priorities," Emmert said in a statement. "I am tremendously proud of the Association's achievements over the previous 12 years, particularly the devotion and hard work of the national office team here in Indianapolis."
According to a news release, Emmert's decision to quit the NCAA was reached through mutual agreement between the president and the NCAA Board of Governors. It comes at a time when the college athletics landscape is undergoing seismic transformations, with players being allowed unprecedented rights and money.
The NCAA also passed a new constitution in January, signaling that the organization will undergo a restructure that will see it play a smaller role in the future than it has since its inception.
"With substantial shifts occurring in college athletics, the timing of this decision offers the Association with consistent leadership over the coming months, as well as the time to evaluate what the president's future position will be," said John J. DeGioia, chairman of the NCAA board. "It also enables for the seamless selection and recruitment of the next president."
Emmert became a lightning rod for criticism after a series of gaffes, notably the NCAA's sluggish implementation of the policy allowing players to earn from their name, image, and likeness. Only after numerous states approved legislation enabling the practice on their own did the NCAA step up the pace on the NIL revolution. Despite his manipulation of NIL legislation, the board of directors granted him a contract extension through 2025 just 364 days before his departure was announced. At the time of the agreement, his annual pay was reported to be $2.7 million.
When the NCAA was embroiled in the antitrust action before the US Supreme Court, Emmert was in charge. It lost a 9-0 decision last year that permitted players to obtain small advantages like as laptops, internships, and post-graduate possibilities as a result of their time as collegiate sports.
"In practically every other enterprise in America, the NCAA's economic model would be flatly unconstitutional," Justice Brett Kavanaugh remarked. "Whether the NCAA and its member universities can justify not paying student-athletes a fair amount of money is highly debatable."
Emmert was also in charge during the men's and women's NCAA Basketball Tournaments' resource disparity scandals, incidents that resulted in several high-profile programs being placed on NCAA probation, the mismanagement of the Nevin Shapiro case at Miami, and the FBI investigation that has engulfed the men's basketball world for the past half-decade.
His record as the NCAA's president has been so poor that CBS Sports' senior writer Dennis Dodd speculated that the institution could succumb to "amateurism" and die prematurely.
On Nov. 1, 2010, Emmert became the NCAA's new president. Prior to that, he was president of the University of Washington from 2004 to 2010 and chancellor of Louisiana State University (1999-2004). He graduated from Washington University with a bachelor's degree in arts and went on to Syracuse University for a master's degree in public administration and a PhD.