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