NCAA President Charlie Baker speaks to a group of Franklin College athletes at the Spurlock Center Wednesday evening as Andrew Hendricks, the college’s vice president and swimming coach, looks on.
Ryan O’Leary | Daily newspaper
Charlie Baker is no stranger to the world of college athletics. He played basketball at Harvard, his wife was a Northwestern gymnast, and his three children competed at that level in football or field hockey.
But when he took over as president of the NCAA last March, Baker inherited a very different landscape than the one he or his children navigated. The 67-year-old former Massachusetts governor has spent much of this year studying the scene, speaking with conference commissioners, athletic directors and athletes to find out what he could about the today’s most pressing problems.
Wednesday evening, as part of a joint initiative between Franklin College and Leadership Johnson County, Baker came to the Spurlock Center to answer questions from a few Grizzlies student-athletes.
Among the topics covered during Baker’s visit, either during the student Q&A portion or in a brief conversation with the Daily Journal afterward:
Division III: Advantages and disadvantages
Baker was asked about some of the biggest challenges facing Division III schools such as Franklin College. He noted his familiarity with smaller colleges — his sons both played D-III football — and said three major issues were addressed by those he met: rising costs (both for students and schools), difficulties in creating visibility and difficulties in maintaining staff in certain areas. He cited sports information directors as an example, largely due to the large number of work hours involved in that type of role.
On the other hand, Baker pointed out the benefits of competing at a smaller school.
“Size creates civility,” he said. “It creates friendships, it creates community, it creates a much tighter school environment in general. Usually a larger percentage of kids who attend D-III schools play sports, so there’s more community there. Everyone has a common idea of ​​why they are there and what they hope to get out of their sporting experience.
Social media reaction
During the first months of his tenure, Baker heard several stories from athletes about how they had been tormented on social media – usually from anonymous sources – after a poor performance in an important match.
“It was some pretty ugly stuff,” he said.
Young athletes are now being forced to take on challenges that the Baker generation never had to face.
“You are all public figures in your world and on your campus,” Baker told the assembled athletes, “and so you are subjected to some of the same BS that I was subjected to when I was governor of Massachusetts. I’m an adult…I don’t care what people say about me on social media. I do not care! It does not matter. But I think it’s really difficult to be a young person who receives noise – and vicious attacks, in some cases – from people he doesn’t know the way he played, what he didn’t Didn’t do well, what he looks like and everything. the rest, and it’s a problem I’ve heard about in all three divisions.
Baker says the NCAA began monitoring social media during NCAA championship events and proposed legislation to protect athletes and officials — with potential penalties including banning online sports betting.
Some help?
Kinsey Price, a senior soccer player who leads the Franklin College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, asked Baker how the NCAA plans to improve the Division III sports experience and whether those plans include authorizing scholarships of sports studies at the D-III level.
His solutions included trying to aggressively grow the fan base, primarily by using analytics to find out who follows each school and sport and targeting those fans with content and also seeking local sponsors and more options streaming video for Division II and Division III championships. events.
As for scholarships? It’s “ultimately a D-III issue,” Baker said, noting that school officials probably know more about it than he does. He suggested cost-cutting initiatives, such as multiple schools purchasing equipment collectively, which could in turn reduce the costs for students to attend those colleges.
Show us the money
Softball player Kennedy Bond discussed the topic of NIL (name, image and likeness) and how it applies to Division III athletes. Baker noted that NIL money largely goes to football and basketball players at larger Division I schools and that, at least at the moment, there aren’t many opportunities available in that area for athletes in other sports, particularly at the D-III level. , due to reduced visibility. The best chance for small college athletes to profit, he said, would be through local sponsors.
Baker added that NIL is still a whole new frontier that will take shape over time, and “you may be arriving too soon.”
I can’t call him
The shortage of officials has become a major problem in recent years at all levels, from college to youth sports. Baker pointed out that the average age of an NCAA official is 55, meaning there aren’t many young people. The problem is not recruiting younger officials, he said; it kept them. Unsurprisingly, surveys of these officials have shown that what alienates them the most is the behavior of coaches, fans and parents.
“The beating that a lot of these (young officials) received from a lot of people in the stands and on the sidelines was just enough to send them running,” Baker said.
He proposed strategies to help retain new officials, including educational strategies to deal with “bad actors” outside the lines.
Master it
During Baker’s presentation, it was mentioned that one of his top priorities as NCAA president was to create a more uniform set of regulations around NIL; Currently, each state has its own set of rules. On Wednesday, he told the Daily Journal that the NCAA is currently developing three-part legislation: first, an athlete protection piece, which he said will be brought up and voted on in December or January; second, one that regulates institutional participation in NIL; and thirdly, one covering how NIL is or is not used in the recruitment process. The latter two, he said, will likely be resolved by next spring.
As for government involvement, Congress has not yet taken up the issue, but Baker has suggested he would like it to.
“There are a lot of people in Washington who are very interested in this issue and are very knowledgeable – Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “The big question mark in my mind is, given all the other things on their plate, is this going to be one of the things they have access to or not? We’re going to continue to push, because I think at least getting state preemption and some measures to level the playing field, so that it’s the same set of rules everywhere, would make a very big difference.
Protect everyone
The Daily Journal also asked Baker about the escalating arms race in college football and basketball, and whether the willingness to spend lavishly in those sports would in turn stifle non-profit sports like football, swimming or tennis. He says he is concerned about it and that some strategies are being discussed to avoid disaster on this front.
Ultimately, it’s up to schools to spend more responsibly.
“We all have to figure out how to live within our budget,” Baker said.
Love of the game
In his parting words, Baker attempted to urge athletes to take full advantage of the “unique opportunity” they have to play collegiate sports. He talked about the benefits that will last after graduation: how companies seek to hire college athletes because sports have taught them to work with others, to listen, to ask questions, to solve problems and to face adversity.
But most of the time, it’s a moment that passes far too quickly; Baker continued to play basketball in recreational leagues over the years, but “it was just never the same.”
“I can’t overstate how important it is that you appreciate this opportunity,” he said, “because not everyone gets the chance.” »
