“We must take decisive action.”

Mark Emmert, in the face of the NCAA’s most serious challenge since… I dunno, the Sandusky scandal? — and if you don’t think a federal criminal investigation into the NCAA’s biggest cash cow isn’t serious, you don’t know Mark Emmert — wants everyone to know he’s on the mother.

The recent news of a federal investigation into fraud in college basketball made it very clear the NCAA needs to make substantive changes to the way we operate, and do so quickly. Individuals who break the trust on which college sports is based have no place here. While I believe the vast majority of coaches follow the rules, the culture of silence in college basketball enables bad actors, and we need them out of the game. We must take decisive action. This is not a time for half-measures or incremental change.

Man, that sounds positively Churchillian.  To the bunkers!  Storm the beaches!

Form a committee.

Therefore, I have secured endorsement from the NCAA Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors to form a Commission on College Basketball, which Dr. Condoleezza Rice has agreed to chair, to work with me in examining critical aspects of a system that clearly is not working. The commission will be composed of leaders from higher education, college sports, government and the business world, as well as accomplished former student-athletes.

Yeah, if there’s somebody out there who’s fully informed on how the AAU/shoe game is played, it’s Condi Rice.

To give you an idea of how deluded this inquiry is right out of the gate, check one of the three things the commission is directed to focus on:

The NCAA’s relationship with the NBA, and the challenging effect the NBA’s so-called “one and done” rule has had on college basketball, including how the NCAA can change its own eligibility rules to address that dynamic.

That’s going places.

Top that with the usual doing it for the kids excuse…

We need to do right by student-athletes. I believe we can — and we must — find a way to protect the integrity of college sports by addressing both sides of the coin: fairness and opportunity for college athletes, coupled with the enforcement capability to hold accountable those who undermine the standards of our community.

… and it seems like this is nothing but a stalling action until the Feds can put their little inquiry to bed.  Not that Emmert has any clue whether that will work, but he can always appoint another group to review what this commission concludes.  They’ve always got time, or at least they believe they do.

Media Contact

Stacey Osburn

NCAA Director of Public and Media Relations

Now he’s just trolling us.