Edit: I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented/posted on this yet:

NCAA president Myles Brand dies

By Michael Marot • The Associated Press • September 16, 2009


NCAA President Myles Brand was president at Indiana from 1994 through 2002, and at Oregon from 1989 to 1994. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

INDIANAPOLIS – Myles Brand, the former Indiana University president who fired basketball coach Bob Knight and later went on to lead the NCAA, died Wednesday afternoon from pancreatic cancer. He was 67.

As the first university president to ever run college sports' largest governing body, Brand worked to change the perception that wins supersede academics in college sports.

Brand broke the news that he had cancer in January at the NCAA convention and continued to run the organization's day-to-day operations. The NCAA announced his death. Officials were not ready to announce who would replace Brand or when they may begin searching for a successor.

Brand gained national attention in May 2000 when he put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy after a former player alleged the hugely successful but hot-headed coach had choked him during a practice years earlier.

Four months after that announcement, freshman Kent Harvey accused Knight of grabbing him, and Brand did what fans considered unthinkable – firing the coach who won three national championships in Bloomington.

"Myles Brand will be remembered not only for his unyielding demand that intercollegiate athletics reflect the values of higher education but also for his advocacy of the student-athlete," said NCAA Executive Vice President Bernard Franklin said, according to NCAA.org. "This was a man who understood the importance of higher education, as well as the benefit of athletics participation as part of the educational experience. He did not waver from that as a tenet of NCAA operations, and as a result, the Association will continue to benefit from his influence for years to come."

He is survived by his wife, Peggy, and one son, Joshua.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090...Brand+dies

I am sorry that he suffered with cancer. I am sorry for his family.

But......

To suggest that he was all about academics is a sham. Over 90% of the basketball players that graduated while he was the head guy at IU had a major of Sports Management. While that is a perfectly good major, the IU players did nothing more than hang out in the gym all day and were handed a degree. I liken more to academic fraud than to high ideals.

Myles Brand represented everything that is wrong with college athletics. Using the kids for profit while giving them a hollow degree that prepared them for absolutely nothing is not my idea of a "good guy".

(09-16-2009 05:51 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Edit: I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented/posted on this yet:

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=387780

(09-16-2009 06:25 PM)QSECOFR Wrote:  I am sorry that he suffered with cancer. I am sorry for his family.

But......

To suggest that he was all about academics is a sham. Over 90% of the basketball players that graduated while he was the head guy at IU had a major of Sports Management. While that is a perfectly good major, the IU players did nothing more than hang out in the gym all day and were handed a degree. I liken more to academic fraud than to high ideals.

Myles Brand represented everything that is wrong with college athletics. Using the kids for profit while giving them a hollow degree that prepared them for absolutely nothing is not my idea of a "good guy".

I can tell you it is still going on at IU.

(09-16-2009 06:25 PM)QSECOFR Wrote:  Over 90% of the basketball players that graduated while he was the head guy at IU had a major of Sports Management.

You didn't have to mention what their major was, just that they were given degrees would have been good enough.

RIP Myles. Deepest sympathies to the Brand family.

(09-16-2009 09:54 PM)subflea Wrote:  

(09-16-2009 06:25 PM)QSECOFR Wrote:  Over 90% of the basketball players that graduated while he was the head guy at IU had a major of Sports Management.

You didn't have to mention what their major was, just that they were given degrees would have been good enough.

Sub you are correct. the important point wasn't which degree it was, the key item is that the kids never went to class and were handed a piece of paper tha was worthless.

Plus as a sports management major myself...

http://deadspin.com/5361698/the-ncaas-la...e-believer

yep...