Bruce Feldman wrote this related piece:
From @Monsoonforlife: will Emmert be canned before the 2013 football season starts?
It wouldn't shock me despite the NCAA's Executive Committee releasing a statement "unanimously" affirming its ongoing support of embattled NCAA president Mark Emmert's leadership. In other news, my mom thinks I'm actually as good a basketball player as LeBron James and everything I write is great.
Unanimously? As in there are 17 members of the Executive Committee and not a single one saw any reason to have issue with Emmert's handling of this fiasco. Zero for 17?
Yep.
That should be stunning -- should be, but it just seems par for the course with the NCAA and Emmert. Earlier in the week, when the NCAA had its teleconference regarding the botched Miami investigation, word got out about Emmert canning several top NCAA enforcement staffers, including Julie Roe Lach. That's the person he picked for the role two years ago. I asked the president, in light of his push to punish head coaches for the screwups of their underlings, what he would say to those who think it is hypocritical that there would be no punishment for him given the egregious mistakes his people have made?
Emmert's response seemed like a shoulder shrug: "If the Executive Committee feels some sort of disciplinary action needs to be taken against me, then I'm sure they will."
So on Saturday, we got that glowing statement about Emmert and the Executive Committee, and it went over with quite a thud. A source at a big BCS school I spoke with Saturday night told me he's heard Emmert won't keep his job. And there are too many people coming at the guy now from all sides, and the Executive Committee's statement only inflamed things around him even more. I don't know. Maybe that is just wishful thinking. Does that mean Emmert will be forced out in the next year?
I suspect we're going to get even more lawsuits, which has the potential to uncover more embarrassing information about how the NCAA operates its murky system of "justice" -- and I've heard there will be more details coming out soon about Emmert that will only fan the flames of his grease fire. One intriguing part of this will be what Miami president Donna Shalala does down the road as the UM case keeps unfolding. No school ever has come out as hard against the NCAA publicly as Miami did earlier this week. Among the haymakers: "...sadly the NCAA has not lived up to their own core principles. The lengthy and already flawed investigation has demonstrated a disappointing pattern of unprofessional and unethical behavior."
Shalala, keep in mind, has as many big connections in the world of politics as anyone in the NCAA community from her days in D.C., where she served eight years as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. She has clout and isn't intimidated playing politics. I doubt the NCAA wants this ending up on Capitol Hill.
In my story earlier this weekend, Pete Carroll had some very strong comments about just how broken and bewildering this whole process is, and how it needs to change now. I feel like that sentiment is shared by more and more people within the college sports community and, like I was told Saturday night, this is gaining more traction. But will key power brokers inside the sport actually feel compelled to act?
