Knight Commission Report—“Restoring the Balance”

The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) has been supportive of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics since its inception nearly 20 years ago. The commission has provided important leadership throughout its existence. AGB and the AGB Board of Directors commend the commission’s ongoing efforts to bring about essential change in intercollegiate athletics.

It is important to place this new report in the current environment for higher education. Our institutions are under increased scrutiny by the public and policy makers at the state and federal levels to be more efficient, to graduate more students, to be more competitive globally, and perhaps most importantly, to be more transparent and accountable. The financial crisis has wreaked havoc on our institutions; public and private institutions are operating in an unprecedented fiscal environment that has already required serious changes in what we do and how we do it. Intercollegiate athletics is not immune from the need for change.

I am pleased to see that “Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values, and the Future of College Sports” makes a poignant case for bringing intercollegiate athletics back into balance at our institutions. The report’s data show  that if we continue on our current path, the business model for our institutions – not just our athletics programs –is not sustainable. The recommendations are bold and workable. I commend the members of the Commission for their dedicated work and their willingness to advance important principles. I am confident that the AGB Board of Directors will endorse the commission’s work.

College and university boards play a central role in bringing balance and rational oversight to the management  of college sports.  AGB has made formal statements on the importance of appropriate board engagement and understanding concerning athletics, urging clear delegation of administrative leadership of athletics to institution presidents. The Knight Commission’s current report is consistent with AGB’s position.

I am particularly impressed with the section on “Strengthened Oversight” and the reference to board responsibilities in monitoring athletics expenditures and revenues, transparency and accountability, and protection of academic values. Appropriate board engagement and support are key to implementing the commission’s recommendations.

Since the release of AGB’s  first statement on the subject in 2004,  AGB’s Board of Directors has been on record about the appropriate role of governing boards in the oversight of intercollegiate athletics—the AGB statement was updated in 2007, and again in 2009 –most recently with the endorsement of the Knight Commission.

The AGB Statement on Board Responsibilities for Intercollegiate Athletics (2009) states in part:

“There is a growing sense among academic leaders, the news media, and the public that our society glorifies athletic accomplishment far more than academic achievement.  At some colleges and universities, intercollegiate athletics programs may be detracting from the institution’s mission.  What’s more, the increasingly commercialized nature of major sports at the highest competitive levels and a widening gulf between the athletic and academic cultures at some institutions and in some communities have negatively affected the reputation and public standing of higher education as a whole.  Restoring balance between sports and education continues to be elusive.  If efforts to achieve an appropriate balance are to succeed, governing board members will need to lend consistent and public support to their chief executives and academic leaders who are at the forefront of such discussions…Given their responsibilities for ensuring the academic integrity and reputation of the institutions they serve, boards should be engaged in the search for balance.”

As part of their responsibilities, board members need to be oriented to the relationship between athletics and institutional mission, and the finances of intercollegiate athletics programs.  Boards and individual board members need to remember that they hold the institution in trust – and the institution’s most important duty is to educate. The definition of athletics success must not be based on wins and losses, but rather should emphasize graduation rates, manageable budgets (including coaches’ salaries), acceptable capital expenditures, and the well-being of student-athletes.  As a practical matter, boards should review and approve athletics budgets as part of their institution’s regular budgeting process; boards should consider whether institutional revenues and expenditures for athletics programs are appropriate and whether institutional values are reflected in those financial decisions.

We all can play a role in changing the trajectory of our athletics programs. I hope the ideas and recommendations in the report will be given active consideration by institutions and their leadership (presidents and boards), accrediting agencies, NCAA’s leadership, the media, the general public, and other higher-education associations.

We look forward to working with the Knight Commission and the NCAA to advance the commission’s specific recommendations which will help produce meaningful change through greater transparency and accountability.