Big 12 Commissioner Calls For NCAA Reform
By Mike Dyce
The 2013 Big 12 Media Days are underway in Dallas, Texas. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby called for NCAA reform stressing the importance of achieving “transformative change” to the NCAA, its leadership system and its future.
“I really do think we need to reconfigure the leadership of the organization,” Bowlsby said. “I don’t think we can at this point in time move forward, and we certainly haven’t been able to configure an agenda that made the changes we need to make.”
“It’s probably unrealistic to think that we can manage football and field hockey by the same set of rules,” Bowlsby said. “I think some kind of reconfiguration of how we govern is in order.”
That is a valid point. NCAA football and basketball are huge money making machines for universities and colleges. Governing them by the same set of rules as smaller NCAA sports is ridiculous.
“This is not a time when trimming around the hedges is going to make very much difference,” he said.
Bowlsby believes it is time for the commssioners to re-evaluate the core purpose of the NCAA and restructure the entire process. He also called out the NCAA for enforcement decisions that are inconsistent with the vales and aspirations of the organization.
“Without the power of subpoena or the weight of perjury, we are not getting to the bottom of anything in the way of the enforcement process,” he said.
He said that seceding from the NCAA right now isn’t a realistic option or possibility.
“I think right now our national organization is under fire. There isn’t any question about it,” he said. “And yet, I’m not hearing anyone say we ought to find another organization.
“I have not heard from a single commissioner or even athletic directors on an individual basis that believe another organization other than the NCAA is the right approach for us.”
Bowlsby also said he took the job in part to be included in the national discussion and agenda.
“One of the reasons why I took the commissioner’s job was because I’d like to have more to say about that national agenda,” Bowlsby said, “and I would like to see the best parts of the business enhanced and other parts of what we do improved rather dramatically.”