Yahoo Sports Grant Hill among 5 new appointees to NCAA board as association grapples with hoops scandal
The NCAA announced the addition of five independent members of its Board of Governors on Tuesday, formally implementing one of the recommendations made by the Condoleezza Rice-led Commission on College Basketball in 2018.
The new members of the NCAA's highest-ranking governing body come from a variety of backgrounds in business, higher education, government and college athletics. They are: Kenneth Chenault, chairman and managing director of General Catalyst and former chairman and chief executive officer of American Express; Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities and former president of Michigan and Iowa; Grant Hill, former basketball player at Duke and in the NBA, current broadcaster and NBA team part-owner; Denis McDonough, senior principal and chair of the Rework America Task Force and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama; and Vivek Murthy, 19th surgeon general of the United States.
They will join 16 Board of Governors members who are college and university presidents and chancellors from NCAA Divisions I, II and III.
The move is part of a diversification of voices and outlooks at the NCAA leadership level, and comes as one of the association's responses "aimed at strengthening public trust in the NCAA as an effective leader and regulator in college sports," according to the association's release. The Rice Commission was formed in response to the federal investigation of corruption in college basketball.
After the Rice Commission made its proposals in April 2018, a recommendation for the independent Board of Governors was drafted last summer and it was approved at the NCAA convention in January.
“The commission was firm in our recommendation that strong, objective, and independent leadership must be brought to the table at the most senior levels to help restore trust in college sports,” Rice said in a statement. “There can be no question that having this independent perspective is more important than ever, and we are glad the NCAA has implemented our recommendation.”
The appointments come at a critical time for the NCAA, with the second of three federal college basketball-related trials ongoing in New York. The daily revelations of alleged schemes to bribe coaches and pay players, families and middlemen have exposed the pervasive levels of corruption within the sport. NCAA Enforcement representatives have largely sat on the sidelines as the trials have unfolded, wary of interfering with the federal investigations, but the delay in action has further spawned cynicism about the association's ability to deal with everything coming out in court.
While the NCAA cannot immediately demonstrate progress in that area, it can implement proposals from the Rice commission as a sign that it is not standing still. (Coleman, the former president at Michigan and Iowa, was part of the Rice Commission.)
"College sports and higher education will undoubtedly benefit from the diverse perspectives that each new member brings as we look for the best ways to enhance the student-athlete experience," said Georgia Tech president G.P. "Bud" Peterson, chair of the NCAA Board of Governors. "With the addition of these independent members, the board structure is closely aligned with the best practices in nonprofit and higher education to include public voices in the highest governing body."
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