I believe that the Board of Directors of the NCAA consists of university presidents, and that, by design, the president of the NCAA is a former university president. I think the spirit of those restrictions is to make sure that the people most involved understand the perspectives and command the respect of the member institutions. Although this structure may occasionally create a perception of bias in a specific case, it also keeps things within the larger community of colleges and universities.
Mark Emmert served as chancellor of LSU from 1999 to 2004 and as president of the University of Washington from June 2004 to October 2010. His predecessor, Myles Brand, was president of the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1994 and president of the University of Indiana from 1994 to 2002.