It was inevitable that someone would create a petition to fire Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA and legend in his own mind. Change.org, a bastion of petitioners, gets the prize for being the vehicle for a petition by “Josh O” of Fairfax, Virginia entitled “NCAA: Fire Mark Emmert as President of the NCAA“. It is addressed to David Leebron, Nathan Hatch, Gene Block, Lou Anna Simon, and Judy Genshaft — the NCAA Board of Directors.
You can follow the link above and sign the petition by filling out a brief form on the same page. The Turkey endorses this petition, and thinks you should strongly consider signing it. When last I looked, they had 305 supporters and needed 195 to make it over the first hurdle.
Can the Board of Directors fire Emmert, or has he amassed too much power and become Emperor for Life?
In order to determine exactly what would be involved in shitcanning Emmert, I tried to find the NCAA by-laws on the NCAA.org site, but they’re not published there for us mere mortals. Perhaps someone with Lexis Nexus access can find them for me, as the Turkey lacks the finances to employ such tools, but I digress. It is interesting that the NCAA site is replete with rule books for each division of member institutions, posted in very prominent places, but when it comes to its own framework of rules, it keeps them secret. (Incidentally, they devote an entire page to Penn State sanctions on that site.)
Emmert, the hypocrite, is running a dirty organization but he has thus far kept his hands squeaky clean. As the scandals and internal malfeasance mount, he won’t be able to remain aloof much longer. It is time for the media to turn their negative death rays toward the NCAA in general and Mark Emmert in particular. We’ve seen some of it happening in the past day or two, so there is hope. Come on, sports writers and writerettes, commentators and commentatettes, you don’t want to be left out! Join the media firestorm today!
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Joe says
I have an email request out to John Infante of the ByLaws Blog to see where to look for what you ask, but in checking the various documents, it says the Constitution & ByLaws are contained in each Division Manual (I guess that makes sense because of the conference/school committee membership requirements for each division). Anyway, here’s D1. Haven’t looked through it yet to see if it says how to shit can your leader, but that may merely be a matter of the Board of Directors or Exec Com saying “You’re fired!”. If I hear anything from Infante I’ll let you know.
http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D110.pdf
Joe says
Not much in their document.
4.1.2 Duties and responsibilities. [*] The Executive Committee shall: (Adopted: 1/9/96 effective 8/1/97) (a) Provide final approval and oversight of the Association’s budget;
(b) Employ the NCAA president, who shall be administratively responsible to the Executive Committee and who shall be authorized to employ such other persons as may be necessary to conduct efficiently the business of the Association; (Revised: 3/8/06)
So I guess they can hire and fire him.
I have seen nothing that defines just what the hell Emmert’s job actually is!
The Nittany Turkey says
The problem with the Division Manuals is that they don’t cover the president at all! They deal with the Executive Committee, the various subcommittees, and all that, and how conferences are to be represented, but not how to hire or fire the president. Chapter 4 would be the place for that, but it really doesn’t belong in the Division manuals. There should be an overarching set of by-laws, or perhaps an organizational charter that defines the “front office.” I hope your inquiry finds it.
—TNT
Joe says
I’ve thrown in the towel and unless Infante comes up with something, I’m not sure if there is actually anything published that defines exactly what Emmert’s position responsibilities are and how they are controlled. Every conceivable search I’ve done has come up with a dry hole.
Nice job to have!
The Nittany Turkey says
Interestingly enough (he says with tongue firmly in cheek), Pennsylvania seems to be disproportionately represented among the petition signers.
—TNT
BigAl says
There seem to be a lot of similarites between State’s Board of Trustees and the NCAA Executive Committee. They both want to appoint a superhero to take care of everything so they can sit on their asses and do nothing besides basking in the glory of their positions.
Extreme public pressure is the only way they dump Emmert. And I don’t think the public will care enough unless some of the pending lawsuits turn up some juicy dirt on Emmert.
I suspect Emmert IS dirty. He’s an arrogant, egotistical prick who probably thinks the rules apply to everybody except him. But it’s going to take court ordered discovery and/or outside investigators to uncover that dirt.
Personally, I would really love to audit his personal expenditures and travel vouchers. He seems like the kind of guy who would put his mistress on the NCAA payroll or pay for hookers with an NCAA credit card.
The Nittany Turkey says
At UCF in the 1990s we had a president who did exactly that: pay for hookers on a university Master Card. Obviously, the expenses don’t come through on the bills saying “Mabel’s Cathouse”, but in his case a hooker named “Lola” ratted on him. The local newsrag got it and that was the end of that.
I was working there at the time. I marveled at how an individual who had reached the pinnacle of his profession could commit such fundamental errors in judgment, particularly when he was well aware that one particular vice president had it in for him — and that vice president had the ear of the Chancellor and the Board of Regents. I’d think one would want to avoid leaving tracks in that situation.
However, veteran of the plethora of audits that you are, Big Al, you’ve nailed it. I’m sure you’ve uncovered dirt on lots of arrogant pricks in the course of your career and I bet that it never ceases to amaze you what people think they can get away with right under your nose. I’ve been involved in both sides of audits and it befuddles me that people can be so stupid. From salesmen who charge a dinner on a company card and then submit the same dinner for reimbursement (and then, of course, when you catch them, claim that it was a mistake and you’re tarnishing their reputation) to professors who kited NSF grant funds for personal enrichment, I’ve seen lots of shit. Invariably, they thought they could get away with it.
Arrogance and perceived power are intoxicating, I suppose. I’ve never had much power and I’m still arrogant, but I digress. I suppose that when you think you’re on top of the world, you think you can crush anything beneath you and nothing can hurt you.
I do hope that Emmert slips up big time. Come to think of it, he would have had to get tired of Triponey long ago, assuming your suspicions are valid. Just for the sake of argument, if he’s willing to pay her for her services with Penn State sanctions, what might he be willing to pay Lola?
First in there with the shovel will undoubtedly hit paydirt.
—TNT
jd says
i’ll get the jedis. let’s do this.
The Nittany Turkey says
I’m all in.
—TNT