Mark Emmert, the President of the NCAA, released a statement on Tuesday announced that a ‘Commission of College Basketball’ has been formed.
Headed by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the commission will be tasked with finding a way to clean up the corruption in college basketball that has come to light as the result of last month’s bombshell FBI Investigation.
“The culture of silence in college basketball enables bad actors, and we need them out of the game,” Emmert said in the statement. “We must take decisive action. This is not a time for half-measures or incremental change.”
The commission will be tasked with three things. The first will be the relationship that entities such as agents, shoe companies and AAU programs have with Division I coaches and the athletes themselves. The second is the relationship that college basketball has with the NBA, specifically with the one-and-done rule. The third is whether or not the way the rules are currently written and enforced actually works.
“We need to do right by student-athletes,” the statement read. “I believe we can — and we must — find a way to protect the integrity of college sports by addressing both sides of the coin: fairness and opportunity for college athletes, coupled with the enforcement capability to hold accountable those who undermine the standards of our community.”
The commission will include, among others, former Georgetown coach John Thompson III, former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, David Robinson, Grant Hill and a slew of college presidents and athletic directors.
The Commission on College Basketball will be chaired by Dr. Condoleezza Rice. pic.twitter.com/BUpUyKgdjb
— NCAA PR (@NCAA_PR) October 11, 2017