Bye Brand

I’m not sure it would have been possible to accomplish everything I did as a college athlete without Myles Brand running the NCAA. The former President died this afternoon at the dear age of 67. Brand succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was the first leader to serve as a university President and the Association’s chief executive. Brand and I shared more than the same birthday (May 17th). We also held academics and athletics in high regard. Both go hand-in-hand in the development of perspicacious adults.
The buckled student-athlete association known simply as the NCAA was rebuilt and reestablished on Brand’s academic reform. The president of Indiana and Oregon was a strong advocate for interscholastic athletics. He called for institutions to moderate athletic spending and better integrate sports into higher education. Brand’s unyielding demand for intercollegiate athletics to represent the values of the university was paramount among his goals. He established rules and oversaw the changing landscape of college athletics with determined authority. Brand’s prestigious position as President of the governing body controlling athletics enabled him to be a real role model.
Brand is well-known for firing the fiery basketball coaching legend, Bobby Knight. He was thrust into the spotlight after incurring the wrath of the state of Indiana after Knight’s release. I don’t remember those days. I do remember him as the principal founder and figurehead of the NCAA rules committee. He also introduced the Academic Progress Rate (APR) that affects the way athletes are directed to their college degrees. Teams pay a price if their student-athletes don’t keep up in the classroom. They lose scholarships, playing time and sometimes, post-season appearances. The inclusion of the APR was beneficial because it forced young men and women athletes to focus on academics. I always considered it a privilege, not a right, to play Division III tennis. I may not have had the opportunity to participate if Brand did not keep the NCAA an organized association. Athletic spending and hiring coaches is very much a part of every university today. Sometimes we invest too much interest in sports in our society. The college athlete, to me, is most special. Brand made it his mission to ensure all college-bound athletes the prospect of competing while keeping a vision about sound academic environments. His boundless and impeccable fortitude set the guidelines of today’s intercollegiate athletics. Brand’s replacement will have big shoes to fill.

Parting points: Song for today-“Uprising” by Muse