NCAA President Mark Emmert stepping down no later than 2023

INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA President Mark Emmert is stepping down after 12 tumultuous years leading an association that

has become increasingly marginalized while college sports has undergone massive changes and been besieged by political and legal attacks.

NCAA Board of Governors Chairman John Degioia announced the move Tuesday and said it was by mutual agreement. The 69-year-old Emmert will continue to serve in his role until a new president is

in place or until June 30, 2023.

The move is not entirely a surprise. The NCAA remains the biggest governing body in college athletics, but it is has been under sharp criticism for years as too heavy

handed and even out of date with Emmert

serving as the prime target.

Emmert has guided the NCAA through the most transformative period in the history of the more than 100-year-old organization. During the past

decade, athletes have gained more power, benefits and ability to

earn money than ever before. Amateurism has been redefined.

But Emmert has been viewed by some as not a catalyst for change but as an obstacle standing in the way — or at the least reactive instead of proactive.

“Throughout my tenure I’ve emphasized the need to focus on the experience and priorities of studentathletes,” Emmert

said in a release from the NCAA. “I am extremely proud of the work of the association over the last 12 years and especially

pleased with the hard work and dedication of the national office

staff here in Indianapolis.”

The announcement comes one year after the board approved a

contract extension for Emmert that ran through the 2025, a

move that left many in college sports bewildered. Emmert’s salary was nearly $3 million in 2021.

The NCAA has suffered a series of damaging court losses in the past decade that

peaked with last year’s 9-0 Supreme Court ruling against the association in an antitrust case. The decision undercut the NCAA’S ability to govern college sports and prompted a total overhaul how it operates.

Years after losing an antitrust case over the NCAA’S use of athletes’ names, images and likenesses, the association finally changed its rules last June to allow the athletes to profit as paid

sponsors and endorsers. The move came only after state lawmakers passed laws to

neuter the NCAA’S power. With Congress

unwilling to provide federal protection, the NCAA has been unable to regulate NIL activity with uniform rules — leading to fresh criticism.

Emmert has been called before lawmakers in Washington numerous times over the past two years. Attacking Emmert and the NCAA has become one of the few things that has united Democrats and Republicans during these divisive political times.emmert was appointed to the job in April 2010. He had led

the University of Washington and LSU

prior to taking over in Indianapolis. He replaced Myles Brand, who held the position for seven years before

dying of cancer in 2009.

The job Emmert stepped into became increasingly more difficult as big-time college sports such as

major college football and basketball grew into billion-dollar

businesses. NCAA revenue has reached

more than $1 billion per year under Emmert, primarily through the TV deals for the men’s college

basketball tournament, and most of the money is redistributed to more than 1,100 member schools with

nearly 500,000 athletes.still, the disparity between what the wealthiest schools

bring in compared to what the vast majority

of schools spend on athletics has made it difficult for them all to coexist under one

umbrella organization.