Somehow, I don’t think Big East Commissioner Mike Trangehese and NCAA President Myles Brand will be having a pleasent get together in the near future if Trangehese reads this interview (via college ball)
“Most of the realignments had to do more with academic affiliations than they did with [athletics]. No question about it. And I know that for a fact. . . . The press thought that this was a money grab. Even when you include the [ACC] playoff football game, Miami is not going to make money in the short term, the next five years, on this. Probably lost money.
“No one wants to lose money on this, that’s true, but the driving force for those presidents and those schools are the academic affiliations. It’s not seen that way from the outside, nor am I suggesting that that’s the way the conference commissioners see it when they’re hired to, obviously, increase the revenue.”
Actually, I don’t think Brand will be visiting any Big East football schools in the near future. It gets better when you read what he has to say on a playoff in college football.
“I think with the commissioners you have in place and most especially the presidents you have in place, I would be surprised to see that. Because this group of presidents, who are the ones in control, have made it very clear that they don’t want to overcommercialize I-A football moreso than it is now, and turning it into a Super Bowl-type environment would do that. And they don’t want to see it go into the second semester, which would affect the academics of the student-athletes who participate. They’ve made it very clear they’re not going to go towards a playoff. As long as that mind-set is in place, it won’t happen.”
No. No one is interested in seeing college football further commercialized. Hopefully it will stay as pristine and uncorrupted by commercial considerations as the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
And now the jaw-dropping final quote on what the NCAA stands for.
“It’s all about the student-athletes. It’s not about the dollars. It’s not about the television contracts. It’s all about the student-athletes. A bit old-fashioned, I understand, but that’s what it’s all about as far as I’m concerned.”
This is the guy in charge of the NCAA?
