Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to follow Mark Emmert as NCAA president

The NCAA has found a prominent politician to succeed Mark Emmert.

The NCAA announced Thursday that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) will be its next president. Baker’s term as governor is up in January and he will take over in March.

"I am honored to become the next president of the NCAA, an organization that impacts millions of families and countless communities across this country every day," Baker said in an NCAA statement. "The NCAA is confronting complex and significant challenges, but I am excited to get to work as the awesome opportunity college athletics provides to so many students is more than worth the challenge. And for the fans that faithfully fill stadiums, stands and gyms from coast to coast, I am eager to ensure the competitions we all love to follow are there for generations to come. Over the coming months, I will begin working with student-athletes and NCAA members as we modernize college sports to suit today's world, while preserving its essential value."

Emmert announced in April that he would be stepping down as president no later than June 30, 2023. According to the report, Emmert will serve in an advisory capacity for the first half of 2023.

Emmert has run the NCAA for the past 12 years and has long been a punching bag for the NCAA’s detractors. Emmert was a staunch defender of the NCAA’s outdated rules regarding amateurism yet also oversaw the governing body’s sudden shift to allow players to make money off their image rights once it was politically untenable for the NCAA to continue to enforce its new rules.

That political influence came in the way of myriad state governments moving to legalize college athlete compensation. Rather than navigate dozens of differing state laws, the NCAA quickly implemented sweeping changes to its NIL rules without much thought to future consequences. This move was, of course, made after years of the NCAA dragging its feet regarding any changes to its rules. Had Emmert and the NCAA been more proactive over the course of his tenure, it’s reasonable to assume that states like California and Florida wouldn’t have forced their hand.

After making its widespread rules changes, the NCAA has looked to Congress for federal legislation to govern how college athletes can make money. So far, Congress has declined to make federal oversight of the NCAA a priority.

By appointing an experienced politician, perhaps the NCAA believes it can make a stronger push for federal rules with Baker in charge. In its release, the NCAA said that "Baker arrives at the NCAA at a moment of significant transformation. Legal shifts in the environment surrounding college sports have challenged the NCAA's ability to serve as an effective national regulator for college athletics, resulting in an untenable patchwork of individual state laws. Partnering with federal policymakers to develop a consistent, sustainable legal framework to address issues common to student-athletes and athletic departments across the country will be a top and immediate priority. Throughout the search process, Governor Baker's history of successfully forging bipartisan solutions to complex problems stood out to the search committee as uniquely suited to the NCAA's present needs."

Baker is a former college athlete and has been in office since 2015. He was the CEO of a medical group after serving as the Secretary of Administration and Finance for the state of Massachusetts and before running for governor.