The NCAA has a new president.
Baker, a Republican who has been governor since January 2015, will start his new job on March 1. He played on Harvard's basketball team in the 1977-78 season, but has no experience as an administrator. He spent most of his career in Massachusetts state government, but also worked in health care administration. Baker has degrees from both Harvard andNorthwestern.
He announced in April that he was stepping down. The NCAA leader had his contract extended in April 2021. He will stay in an advisory role until June.
Linda Livingstone, the chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, said that they were excited to have Governor Charlie Baker join the organization. The ability of Governor Baker to bridge divides and build bipartisan consensus is remarkable. Governor Baker is deeply committed to our student-athletes and enhancing their collegiate experience, as a former student-athletes himself, husband to a former college gymnast, and father to two former college football players. We will use these skills and perspective to build a sustainable model for college athletics.
Livingstone and six others, including Grant Hill, co-owner of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, were involved in the presidential search.
The NCAA has faced a number of high-profile legal challenges in recent years, and Baker's background in politics and policy made him a good candidate. The NCAA began allowing athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness in 2021, but the rules are different in different states. The NCAA noted in a release that it has limited authority due to the "untenable patchwork of individual state laws".
The NCAA is confronting complex and significant challenges, but I am excited to get to work as the awesome opportunity college athletics provides to so many students is more than worth the challenge. "For the fans that faithfully fill stadiums, stands and gyms from coast to coast, I am eager to ensure the competition we all love are there for generations to come." In the coming months, I will begin working with student-athletes and NCAA members as wemodernize college sports to suit today's world, while preserving its essential value.
The new constitution of the NCAA allows each of its divisions to self-govern. Baker's history of forging bipartisan solutions to complex problems stood out to the NCAA.
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