College athletics lost one of its own on Wednesday. Dr. Myles Brand passed away at the age 67. As the president of the National Collegiate Athletics Association from 1993 until his death from pancreatic cancer, Brand was a leader looking to model leaders.
The NCAA scripted the release of his death notice, building a memorial to Brand, just the fourth CEO of the Association, via IBM WebSphere Portal. There is a lot to see and read about Brand's tenure [9].
What to remember: Brand fought for reform (academic). Brand removed a General (legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight). Brand even blogged [10].
Brand epitomized his surname. The NCAA controls it entities, running a sports association on par with the controlling hand of the National Football League: Their games, their rules.
Now there is no leader, and as with most NCAA decisions, no public discussion on the change. No head-coach-in-waiting has been named, no Raul Castro masking the death of Fidel.
A sitting president is looking into the practices of the NCAA, namely its football national championship. The Association is in need of a change, one from a leader looking to walk all those Myles.
