The first African-American head football coach in what today is the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) -- the 119 institutions that compete in the annual postseason bowl games -- was hired in 1979. In the 30 years since, a grand total of 27 African-Americans have been head coaches in the subdivision if you don't count those at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

This fall, there will be seven coaches of color among the 119 schools in the subdivision.

Frankly, the lack of progress in minority hiring is a disgrace.

Over the last few years, there has been a concerted effort to expand the number of black head coaches. One of the approaches has been to get more diversity into the interviewing process. And there has been increasing pressure to install "the Rooney Rule" in college football -- which mandates interviews for minority candidates when there are head coach vacancies in the NFL -- as a means to that end.

Currently, the state of Oregon is considering legislation that will do just that for colleges and universities in the Beaver state.

Helping lead the effort for greater diversity and inclusion in intercollegiate athletics is NCAA Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus. I recently asked her to comment on the Rooney Rule and its application to college football.

Here are her thoughts:

Controversy and national debate surrounding what to do about the small number of head coaches of color within Division I FBS has recently been reignited due to a proposed bill in the state of Oregon which would require intercollegiate athletic departments to interview minorities for all open coaching and athletic administrative positions.

Expanding opportunities within the interviewing process is a key and good practice. From the NCAA's perspective, this is hardly a new revelation. Time and time again, NCAA President Myles Brand has assertively and publicly called on NCAA member institutions to expand the search process and interview candidates of color for all leadership positions because diversity and inclusion is essential to the NCAA's end-sum success.

The stark reality is that the numbers of NCAA head football coaches of color is indefensibly low. Moreover, the lack of opportunity, diversity and inclusion within the ranks of head coaching has been going on for far too long.

However, as shameful as the present situation is, the NCAA should not allow itself to be pushed into a course of policy action that may at best give false hope to the deserving and more significantly, misplace the focus of needed solutions which will significantly change the present drought of diversity.

Many in the general public view professional football and intercollegiate football as being virtually one and the same within a context that the game of football binds both as a singular sporting event. Thus, it is understandable that some civil rights advocates call for the NCAA membership to support the proposed Oregon bill and to do even more by implementing the NFL's "Rooney Rule."

If you hold the notion that NFL football and NCAA football are one and the same, you are just plain wrong. The NCAA is not the NFL. The NCAA is not a league. Rather, it is a non-profit and voluntary association and thus, cannot influence campus hiring practices. Moreover, the NCAA is not a state like Oregon, nor is it a state-entity responsible for regulating and legislating policy for a citizenry of constituents.

The NCAA does not hire football coaches or coaches of any collegiate sport. Athletic directors who work for NCAA member institutions are responsible for interviewing and hiring.

Now that I have set forth key and relevant differences between the NCAA and NFL, I also want to emphasize that equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion are core values within the NCAA. As an African American woman, I openly acknowledge that I have benefited from affirmative opportunities to compete for professional talents based on what I brought to the table - my talents and ability to get the job done better than any other candidate. Not being interviewed or considered for employment because of one's race, gender, creed, color, sexual orientation, age, disability, and religion is wrong.

However, mandatory interviews of minority candidates will not eradicate the practice and stigma of tokenism. The only thing worse than not being hired due to one's race or ethnicity is being considered for a position solely because this individual represents diversity within a mandatory interview process. This is a belittling practice and no wants, needs or should be used as token.

Dedicated social change agents and pundits who urge the NCAA to adopt the "Rooney Rule" may be unaware of of another important reality - more candidates of color are being interviewed for head coaching positions than ever before. The fact of the matter is that 27 candidates of color were interviewed for 22 vacancies at the Division I level last fall. These numbers far exceed the number of mandated head coaching interviews of minorities conducted by the NFL.

If the focus remains squarely on diversity-related interviews, the NCAA could now accurately proclaim that it already reached the shores of the "Rooney Rule" promise land. Not only did Division I FBS institutions support the notion of increasing the numbers of minorities interviewed, they did it voluntarily for virtually every head football coaching opening. No wonder the most recent Black Coaches and Administrators Hiring Report Card recently awarded the highest number of "A" grades for interviewing since the inception of the report five years ago.

I am aware that supporters of the "Rooney Rule" point to the end-results - more African Americans than ever before are head coaches within the NFL. Therefore, they conclude that the same result will occur in the NCAA if it adopted a similar tactic.

Let's keep our eye on a key point as we examine this assertion. The "Rooney Rule" is an interviewing rule. More candidates than ever before were interviewed last fall without a interview mandate similar to the "Rooney Rule" and without the possibility of sanctions for noncompliance. What was the end result? Only four African Americans were hired as head football coaches of color in Division I FBS. This simply is not good enough.

The NCAA is not opposed to equal opportunity within the interview process. But what is needed now is an end to side-stepping the crux of the hiring dilemma. Interviewing is not hiring. What is needed is more hires of head football coaches of color, not mandated interviews and the continued perpetuation of false hope.

NCAA Vice President for Academics and Membership Affairs Kevin Lennon talks about the coach APR, which holds coaches accountable for the academic success of their student-athletes.

Watch past episodes:

On this episode, NCAA Senior Vice President for Branding and Communications Dennis Cryder offers a sneak peak at the new NCAA Hall of Champions.

Watch past episodes:

On this episode of Mondays with Myles and Friends NCAA Vice President for Division III Dan Dutcher discusses the new initiatives the division is undertaking to communicate its mission and values.

In its meetings this week, the Division III Presidents Council will follow up on a commitment by Council leaders at the Convention to explore ways to better explain Division III's approach to intercollegiate athletics.

Council members will meet with Jeff Jacobs, an independent marketing consultant, who has begun research - including interviews with a variety of presidents, student-athletes, athletics administrators, coaches and independent observers - that ultimately may help establish a communications platform for promoting the division's attributes.

Watch past episodes:

In this episode, NCAA President Myles Brand explores the proper balance between athletics and commercialism.

Watch past episodes of Mondays with Myles and Friends:

NCAA Associate General Council Scott Bearby discusses the importance of the "clean zones" around NCAA Championships. Bearby also tackles the issue of in-arena signage, called a "clean venue." Find out why the NCAA enforces signage limitations in our championships and how our fans benefit.

Watch past episodes of Mondays with Myles and Friends:

In this episode, Myles discusses the changes to the Final Four format, making a difference in Detroit and how much he's looking forward to this year's games.

Check out previous episodes of Mondays with Myles and Friends:

On this episode of Mondays with Myles Rachel Newman Baker discusses the perils of sports wagering and the NCAA's stance on this important issue.

Check out past episodes of Mondays with Myles:

On this episode of Mondays with Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand thanks his supporters for their kind words during his recent battle with cancer. Brand also announces a change in the segment's format, which will now include multiple voices from the NCAA. The new show will be called Mondays with Myles and Friends.

Watch previous episodes of Mondays with Myles:

Senior Vice President for Championships Joni Comstock sits in this week for NCAA President Myles Brand. Comstock will soon travel to Houston for the annual Division II Winter Sports Festival. Find out why Division II conducts these festivals and hear what makes them a special experience for fans and student-athletes.

Watch past episodes of Mondays with Myles:

On this episode of Mondays with Myles, President Brand discusses the impact the economy has on intercollegiate athletics and the NCAA. What can universities do to avoid cutting sports in these tough times?

Watch past episodes of Mondays with Myles:

On this episode of Mondays with Myles, Myles tackles academic reform.
Is the bar set too high for student-athletes? Do student-athletes get to take their desired majors? What is the NCAA doing to make sure student-athletes succeed?

Watch previous episodes of Mondays with Myles:

NCAA President Myles Brand talks about the importance of diversifying the intercollegiate athletics community. Watch this second episode with host Anthony Calhoun:

Mondays with Myles returns in video with host Anthony Calhoun. In this first episode, Myles talks about the state of the Association and commercialism of student-athletes.
Join us every Monday to get to the heart of intercollegiate athletics.

Don't get me wrong.

The work to ensure the civil rights of significant groups of American citizens is never done. There will always be issues that must be addressed and addressed aggressively. Most often through neglect but not infrequently as the result of prejudice and malevolence, the rights of minorities to the full range of benefits assumed by the majority are nearly always at risk.

And yet, I can say that in my lifetime enormous progress has been made.

I was a college student and young faculty member in the 1960s and early 1970s when the right to eat in any restaurant, the right to drink from any fountain, the right to sit somewhere other than at the back of the bus, the right to live in any neighborhood you could afford, the right to enter through any door was being denied to African-Americans. People of color were forced to fight -- sometimes in the streets -- for their basic civil rights.

By then, the U.S. Supreme Court had declared that public elementary and secondary education must be open to all. By then, Jackie Robinson -- a hero of mine as a youngster growing up in Brooklyn -- had already broken the color barrier in professional baseball. And by then, young men of color were beginning to impact college sports on a few campuses.

Indeed, the integration of intercollegiate sports was not insignificant to the integration of the entire campus. The doors to higher education throughout the nation were opening to students of color in part because there were already open to student-athletes of color.

Over the last three and a half decades, we have seen the numbers of African-American student-athletes swell to more than half in football and men's basketball. We have seen the number of African-American head coaches in men's basketball increase to 35 percent.

We have seen great progress. There is increased opportunity.

Ironically, what we have not seen is any progress in the hiring of African-American head football coaches in intercollegiate athletics. In fact, we are losing ground. With firings this fall, there are, as of this date, only four black head football coaches among the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision programs in NCAA Division I.

In the entire history of Division I football, excluding the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, there have only been 23 African-American head coaches, never more than eight at any one time, and now there are only four.

Five years ago, I suggested to the Black Coaches Association (BCA) that the solution was in addressing the hiring process. If we could get more coaches of color into the interviewing process, the natural result would be more hires. The BCS instituted its Hiring Report Card, and it was a success. The interviews for African-American candidates increased dramatically to more than 30 percent of the total. But the number of hires remains embarrassingly low. There are lots of openings for head coaches, but there is famine in the midst of plenty when it comes to African-Americans.

There are those who continue to believe the answer is more interviews and call for a collegiate version of the NFL's Rooney Rule that mandates at least one minority interview in every search. Given the success already of the BCS report card to increase such interviews, instituting the Rooney Rule for college sports would be tantamount to calling for more deck chairs while the ship is sinking.

What we need are more hires, not more disingenuous interviews. In fact, focusing on the interviews at this point tends to hide the real problem.

I am frustrated that impassioned calls for change are not working. I am frustrated that pleas to recognize the necessity for fairness are not heeded. I am frustrated that in the midst of progress in so many other areas, higher education and intercollegiate athletics continue to exercise a hiring practice in college football that is embarrassing and simply would not be tolerated elsewhere on campus.

What is going on? What about college football keeps coaches of color out of the top leadership positions? If African-American coaches can take NFL teams to the Super Bowl and win, why are there not the same opportunities in college football?

We cannot ignore the lessons of history forever. Eventually, those who are being denied access will fight for the benefits that are simply assumed by others.

Blame will be laid bare.

I returned recently from a trip to China, where I was a guest of the Ministry of Education. The Chinese had a successful Olympics, and they want to expand their approach to sports from one that focuses on preparing elite athletes for international competition to one that also includes coupling sports and education in their universities. In addition to meeting with the leadership of their equivalent to the NCAA, I met with university presidents, administrators and officials in several cities.

It was my first trip to China. Like others who visited China recently, I was impressed by the urban building boom and the evidence of economic advancement. One city I visited was Shenzhen, an hour north of Hong Kong. Twenty-five years ago, it was a small village. Today, it is a modern city of over eight million, complete with, what seemed to be, hundreds of new skyscrapers.

As I talked with those both inside and outside the universities, there was one thing that caught my attention and that distinguished the current social milieu in America from that of China. It was not the enormous investments made in infrastructure or technology, but the attitude of the population.

There was almost a complete lack of cynicism.

I know that I met with a select and selected population. I spent the time in major cities, not rural areas. It was limited exposure, to be sure.

But there was a common attitude that I found remarkably refreshing. There was some willingness to disagree among themselves and with those in authority; but it always occurred matter of factly, not with the kind of cynicism that takes any situation, even a very good one, and focuses on the negative.

I spend my time these days, as president of the NCAA, in the college athletics community. College sports, I strongly believe, is one of the great subcultures in America. The athletes are enthusiastic and capable young men and women and the fans are avid supporters of the university teams for which they play. There are not many events that are as enjoyable as watching a hard fought football game on a sunny fall Saturday afternoon, or a basketball game between two teams proud of their university affiliations.

But, as good as college sports is, it is also embedded in and surrounded by cynicism. You read it every day in the press, hear it from media commentators and know that it is never far below the surface of fan exuberance.

Of course, college sports are not perfect. More than a few participants are moved by externalities -- by future prospects for money and fame, rather than the joy of the game. The competitive urge sometimes overpowers the sense of fair play, for coaches and fans alike. But the cynicism in the air detracts from the overwhelming good of the activity.

Actually, I do not blame the cynics in college sports. They caught the virus from the rest of American culture. Americans these days permit and, indeed, encourage cynicism to pervade their lives. Well, maybe, the Chinese do too, and I just met an unrepresentative sample. But the refreshing example of the sample -- whether it is representative or not -- made me realize that it certainly would be more pleasant if we managed to keep our cynicism in check.

Being exposed to those who seem to have done so, makes obvious the benefits of not letting cynicism dominate.

I am a pathological optimist. It may be that, with the leadership of President-elect Obama, our culture will move away from its cynical attitude. Maybe, the good will not always be overwhelmed by the marginal or just imagined negatives. As we repair our broken economy, and as we relearn to lend a helping hand when needed, we can change the dominance of cynicism in our culture.

Such change, if it comes, is not likely to begin with sports. Cynicism is deeply rooted in the contemporary college sports culture. But, as we change as a nation, it should eventually reach the sports culture.

As I said, I am an optimist.

What are you going to believe...myth or the facts?

Do you want to continue believing the popular myth, the false perception, the uninformed bias that student-athletes as a lot are dumb jocks? Or do you want to believe the data that say student-athletes are, on average, graduating at higher rates from college than other students?

Last week, I wrote about the dumb jock myth. It has been around a long time. It pervades popular culture about the academic status of student-athletes. From the Broadway musical Good News in 1927 to Tom Wolfe's I am Charlotte Simmons in 2005, the perception persists that college athletes - especially football players and male basketball players - are coming to campus only to play sports and avoid classrooms.

Commenting on last week's blog entitled "The 'Dumb Jock' Myth is Dumb," craigjjs wrote, "Right, the jocks are all Rhodes Scholars. Let's hear the stats for the major sports."

Okay, here are the facts when you look at the graduation rates released earlier this week. These are the rates that include the success and failure of transfer student-athletes (which the federal rates simply ignore as academic dropouts and undercount by more than 37,000 students annually).

For the freshmen football student-athletes in the Football Bowl Championship institutions (the ones who draw the most attention and the largest revenue producers) who entered in 2001, the graduation rate is 66 percent. Two-thirds of all football players graduate in six years (the same time span the federal government uses for all students).

Basketball student-athletes who were part of the same cohort at the same institutions graduated at 65 percent, one percentage point lower.

When you look at the entire class of freshmen from the 2001 cohort, the rate is 79 percent. Nearly eight of every 10 student-athletes earn a degree in six years. And every demographic is doing better than their counterparts in the student body (as measured by the federal calculation) except for white males who trail by two percentage points.

All of these numbers have been trending upward over the last six years. If, as I noted last week, you count student-athletes who return to school over a 10 year period, the graduation rate is 88 percent, almost nine of 10!

So what, craigjjs contends. "You forgot to compare the majors when you cooked up your statistics. I would guess that the 'recreational science' and similar majors tend to receive higher grades and find graduating a bit easier than those of the serious students."

We had the same concern, so we looked at majors for Division I student-athletes in 2004. Student-athletes were underrepresented by about four percent compared to all other students in the humanities and by about 9 percent in sciences. They were overrepresented compared to all other students by about five percent in social sciences and three percent in business. Both groups were about the same in education majors.

Across the spectrum of Division I, there is little evidence of "clustering," or disproportionate numbers of student-athletes in certain majors.

Let me be clear! You can find examples of football or men's basketball programs with unacceptably low graduation rates. You can also find teams where unexplainably large numbers of football or men's basketball athletes are clustered in certain majors.

But these examples are not the rule. They drive the myth. They are no more valid as a generalization than to argue that all student-athletes are great scholars, which some are.

What we have seen during the last few years - and what we will see increasingly in the future - are trends that in time will have most teams in most sports at most institutions graduating above or well above the 60 percent threshold where other students on average graduate.

Why do we know this and what is the cause?

Four years ago, the presidents in Division I put in place the most comprehensive package of academic reforms ever in the history of college sports. The package had three key components:

• Higher standards--Entering freshmen had to present successful completion of 16 academic core courses in high school and a sliding-scale achievement on both grade-point average and standardized tests. Enrolled student-athletes had to make 20 percent progress each year toward a declared major (and one open to all students).

• Better metrics--We look at academic performance semester by semester to track whether members of a team are on course to graduate, and we examine the success or failure of all student-athletes, including transfers.

• Sanctions--Teams that fail to meet threshold requirements each year will lose scholarships and teams that fail to perform academically over time could lose additional scholarships, be withheld from post-season tournaments or even be decertified.

We've never taken such an approach before. There is no place for low-performing teams to run and hide. Next spring, the first post-season sanctions will be leveled against teams that show a pattern of academic underachieving and no improvement. If that fails to get the attention of coaches, athletics directors and presidents, the entire athletics program could be withheld from NCAA championships.

That's going to leave a mark.

Our goal from the outset has been to change behavior. We want student-athletes to get an education and graduate. We would rather reward improvement than punish low performance. But we are dead serious about better results.

The dumb jock myth has always been an unfortunate generalization that unfairly stigmatized the great majority of student-athletes, including the majority of football and male basketball athletes. And the academic reform effort currently underway makes it even more untrue.

So, what are you going to depend on now for your perception of college athletes as students...an uninformed bias that says all jocks are dumb or the undeniable data that shows on average student-athletes are doing as well or better than other students?

It's a shame to let the facts get in the way of a good story, but they just don't support the myth that jocks are dumb.

A musical opened on Broadway in 1927 called Good News.

These were the days before professional football, and the college game was as much the rage of 1920's America as flappers, speakeasies and Al Jolson performing in blackface.

The play was set on the campus of mythical Tait College, and it told the story of star football player, Tom Marlowe who must pass a second-chance geology test on Friday if he is to play on Saturday against arch rival and also mythical Colton College. Just in case the audience missed the point that college athletes were not the brightest bulbs in the collegiate lamp and needed special favors and academic dispensation to continue playing, the script also included a behemoth lineman named Beef Saunders, who was large of size, slow of wit and the prototypical dumb jock.

If this wasn't the birth of the dumb-jock myth, it certainly put the idea into popular culture.

Unfair in its generalization, dumb jock is a myth that has stuck to college sports like corrupt has stuck to American politics. And like most myths, there are a few anomalistic instances of genuine academic shortcomings among college athletes that perpetuate the image.

Fast-forward from Broadway's Tait College in 1927 to 1989 when former Oklahoma State University and Washington Redskins defensive star, Dexter Manley, broke down in his testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives committee and acknowledged that he had been passed along from elementary school to high school to college to professional football and could not read or write. In a surprise confession that made national headlines and rocked the education community, Manley recounted how in an attempt to write a letter to his wife, he tried to spell the word "about."

"I couldn't do it and I broke down and started crying," Manley testified. "How had I gotten through school and couldn't spell 'about'?"

The Dexter Manley story of being passed along through the educational process because of his incredible athletic skills when he could not read past a second-grade level was among the reasons the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was founded the same year. Its seminal report, Keeping Faith with the Student-Athlete, was published two years later and helped push higher education toward academic reform efforts that continue today.

Despite these tragic but isolated instances, the idea that all college athletes - or even many - are disinterested, dysfunctional or disengaged in the classrooms of higher education has been around for a long time and hasn't gone away.
But when you look at the facts, sustaining the dumb jock myth is just as wrong as believing that all politicians are corrupt.
And here's the proof.

Student-athletes in Division I - where the dumb jock myth is most firmly attached - graduate on average at a higher rate than the general student body, according to data gathered by the federal government. Student-athletes graduate at a rate of 63 percent, one point better than all other students. Given that more than 100,000 student-athletes participate in Division I, the differences in federal rates are statistically significant.

African-American student-athletes graduate from 10 percentage points (males) to 13 (female) percentage points better than African-Americans in the general student population.

In fact, the only demographic of student-athletes that doesn't outperform its counterpart in the student body is white males. I don't know how to explain that anomaly. On the other hand, female student-athletes consistently graduate at higher rates than males, and I don't have to explain that one.

When you use a fair accounting of transfer students - which the federal rates do not and in fact penalize institutions when students transfer by counting them as academic failures - the numbers are even better. (And by the way, according to the federal governments own research, more than half of all college students will transfer at least once.)

Based on the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) the NCAA established as a new metric to include transfer students, student-athletes graduate at a rate of 77 percent. That percentage has increased by four points over the last five years and will likely increase again when the new rates are reported later this month.

In 2004, the NCAA studied a group of regular students and student-athletes who graduated from high school in 1994 - ten years earlier. Of that group, 88 percent of all student athletes had graduated in the 10-year window, 21 percent had obtained advanced degrees and 91 percent were employed in full-time jobs. All those numbers were higher than their classmates who were not student-athletes.

When you look at the facts - and avoid stereotyping from unfortunate anomalies - the myth of the dumb jock makes no sense. Indeed, the vast majority of student-athletes are outperforming the general student population in the classroom and graduating at higher rates. And when they leave the campus, they are succeeding at higher rates than other students, including higher salaries.

And yet, the idea persists that college athletes are little more than knuckle-dragging Neanderthals incapable of being real college students - dumb jocks. It's an idea that should have gone the way of flappers, speakeasies and performing in blackface.

Mostly, it's just dumb.

In part two of this discussion, I will focus on current academic reform efforts and the surprising results from that initiative.

The recent Olympics in Beijing were entertaining from an athletics perspective, especially with the remarkable performances of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

However, outside of the sports competition, many people found it fascinating to see how China used the two week event to portray itself to the rest of the world. In a sense, these Olympics were China's international "coming out party."

In today's Mondays with Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the combination of sports and national cultures in the context of the Olympics. As Dr. Brand says in the podcast, China was able to "demonstrate through sports its new standing in the world, and frankly, it did a very good job."

Additionally, Dr. Brand talks about the NCAA's model and how he could see it eventually being implemented overseas, including in countries like China.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

In the recent weeks, NCAA President Myles Brand has written blog entries for publication on the Huffington Post, one of the world's most popular blogs. He has written three entries on "Pay for Play," and in the recent days, he gave his stance on fantasy football on the college level.

Additionally, some of the Double-A Zone's other content has been republished on the Huffington Post in the recent weeks in an effort to expand the NCAA's new media presence.

In today's podcast, Dr. Brand discusses why he decided to begin writing for the Huffington Post and what he hopes to accomplish from this partnership. Dr. Brand also addresses the culture of blogging, and how anyone in today's society can be a journalist. Finally, Dr. Brand explains how the NCAA deals with potentially controversial issues.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Student-athlete safety is a vitally important issue for the NCAA, especially considering that some sports like football are inherently dangerous. Unfortunately, this topic gets brought up on the heels of a few heat-related injuries and even a student-athlete death during football preseason practices.

In today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand explains that, in 1906, student-athlete safety was one of the founding principles of the NCAA and it remains one of the most crucial issues today.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

According to a recent study from the Chronicle of Higher Education, over the last 10 years, 48 percent of all Division I institutions have at least doubled their recruiting budgets. Furthermore, in 2007, 21 Division I schools spent over $1 million on recruiting.

It's no secret that spending in intercollegiate athletics has escalated in recent years. Factors like the rising cost of travel have aided in this trend. And unfortunately, it's a phenomenon that is not going away anytime in the near future.

In today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the current state of recruiting budgets and how they fit into intercollegiate athletics spending as a whole.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

If you are unfamiliar with the term "social networking," it refers to individuals coming together and interacting in online communities, such as Facebook and MySpace. The influence and popularity of social networking Web sites has spread rapidly in the last several years - not only for teenagers, but for adults as well.

As you might imagine, social networking is a hot topic on college campuses around the country, especially with its impact on intercollegiate athletics. While social networking can have benefits on campuses, there are also potential downfalls, including the spreading of potentially threatening content that can harm the image and reputation of student-athletes and athletics departments.

On today's edition of Mondays with Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the rise of social networking and how it can be both a positive and negative communication tool for student-athletes and athletics departments.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

We are currently in the midst of a special two weeks in sports - the 29th Summer Olympics in Beijing. When watching the Olympics on television, even from a half a world away, you get a sense of the pride and patriotism that the athletes feel toward their respective countries. After years of hard work and training, one can only imagine what it would be like to step on the medal podium and receive a gold medal.

In today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand talks about the connection between the Olympics and intercollegiate athletics, amateurism in the Olympics, and the impact of new technology on sports. Dr. Brand also mentions why he believes the Olympics should be about the sports and not the political issues that surround the competition.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

In case you missed last week's podcast, Josh Centor conducted his 114th and final Mondays with Myles podcast with Dr. Brand. Josh recently left his position at the NCAA to become an assistant athletics director at Carnegie Mellon University. We wish Josh the best of luck in his future pursuits and we know he'll do a great job at CMU.

For introductory purposes, my name is Howard Smith and I am the intern in New Media at the NCAA. Ironically, I am a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon, where I was a member of the varsity golf team.

On today's edition of Mondays with Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand reflects on his childhood in New York, his early professor days at the University of Pittsburgh, and the transition to becoming President of the NCAA. Dr. Brand also offers life advice that everybody should take to heart.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On February 20, 2006, NCAA President Myles Brand sat down with me in his office for the first-ever Mondays With Myles podcast and two boys from New York discussed their favorite city. Our conversation today marks the 114th and final time we will record our podcast.

For those of you who don't already know, I am leaving the NCAA and my final day is on Wednesday. I have accepted a position as assistant director of athletics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and begin my new duties on Monday. While I won't be here to record the 115th edition of Mondays With Myles next week, NCAA intern Howard Smith will take over and will continue the weekly podcast with Dr. Brand.

I have had the opportunity to experience a great deal during my three years at the national office, but there's little question that some of my most treasured times came while recording Mondays With Myles. It's truly special that the president of an organization like the NCAA has made himself accessible to all of us each week, creating a historical record about this critical period in intercollegiate athletics.

In our final conversation, Dr. Brand interviews me about the past few years and the progression of the podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Recently, the NCAA enforcement group designated three senior investigators to keep tabs on the game of college basketball. This is the first time enforcement staff members have been asked to monitor a single sport.

While rules aren't being broken left and right in basketball, the sport has been identified as an area where improvement is needed. And although this is a separate initiative, the NCAA's partnership with the NBA to cleanup youth basketball demonstrates that a serious effort is being made.

NCAA President Myles Brand uses today's podcast to discuss the recent changes in enforcement and his hopes for basketball in the future.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A college campus wouldn't be a college campus if every student looked the same, had similar skills, talents and backgrounds. Schools need mathematicians, musicians, vocalists and athletes to be institutions of higher learning.

While academic ability is a necessity for any college student, not all prospective students are created equal in terms of classroom performance. Many institutions can fill their student bodies with high school valedictorians, but they choose to diversify to enhance the overall experience for those who are enrolled. Sometimes, that means admitting a student-athlete who may not be the most impressive academic candidate.

When students who are more at-risk are admitted, institutions have a responsibility to help them adapt to the college environment. In today's conversation, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the resources needed to help student-athletes reach the most important goal - graduation.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last month, the NCAA's Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee (MOIC) finalized a proposal that would hold the Association's membership accountable for diverse hiring standards. MOIC is concerned about a lack of diversity in the coaching and administrative ranks in intercollegiate athletics.

On this week's podcast, Myles Brand discusses the advances that have been with regard to diversity, and says there's still much room for improvement.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

As our wallets become considerably lighter each time we hit the pumps, it's become quite apparent that gas prices aren't the only rising costs we're facing. For many college students and their parents, the cost of higher education has reached an uncomfortable level.

With many elite private institutions now charging $50,000 in tuition each year, higher education has become less affordable for common citizens. While there are lower-cost options, most public institutions are making cuts due to the lagging economy.

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand, who was president at Indiana and Oregon, fills us in on how the financial cycle impacts higher education.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last week, a number of college freshmen were selected in the first round of the NBA draft. In fact, five of the first seven picks were freshmen and only five players who had exhausted their collegiate eligibility were taken among the first 30 picks.

In today's conversation, Dr. Brand discusses the number of underclassmen headed to the NBA, the NBA rule that prohibits 18-year-olds from entering the league and why the NCAA allows underclassmen to try out for the NBA prior to the draft.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Can you imagine the College World Series anywhere other than Omaha? Well, you're not going to have to anytime soon, as the NCAA and city of Omaha inked a 25-year contract extension that will keep college baseball's premier event in Nebraska for the next three decades.

In this week's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses why the College World Series doesn't travel from city to city, as well as the burgeoning popularity of college baseball.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A few weeks ago, we wrote about a young girl who was banned from a boys basketball league because parents of the boys didn't like seeing their sons dominated by a better female player.

That story got us thinking about a number of things related to gender roles in athletics. Should the best girls be permitted to play with boys so they can better develop their skills? Should boys who struggle on their regular teams be permitted to play in girls leagues because they may be a little taller or stronger?

What if we take it one step further? If a young woman wants to play baseball in college, doesn't she have to tryout for the men's team? What if a male student wants to play softball? Should he be allowed to cross the gender barrier and play that sport, since it's not offered for men at the college level?

In today's provocative podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand suggests that unisex teams could be the wave of the future for intercollegiate athletics, as men and women could compete together instead of, or in addition to, gender-specific sports.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

The NCAA sponsors 88 championships in 23 sports, which means that 88 times a year we get to watch one team dance at the end of it all, hoist a trophy over its head and declare itself a champion.

Whether the championship occurs at the Division I, II or III level, finishing the season on top means just as much to lower-profile student-athletes as it does to those we watch on television. In fact, some might argue winning means more for those who won't ever have a chance to compete again.

With just a couple of spring championships still to be determined, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses what being an NCAA champion means for those student-athletes fortunate enough to finish on top of the heap.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last week, the NCAA hosted its annual conference for student-athlete leaders in Orlando. After 10 years of growth, the conference experienced significant changes this time around, specifically in the number of student-athletes that benefited from the curriculum.

More than 700 student-athletes came to Disney World for the Student-Athlete Development Conference, eager to learn about the NCAA governance structure, hot issues within the Association and about the effectiveness and important of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committees. Previously, 350 student-athletes had the opportunity to come to the conference.

Representatives from the three divisional SAACs led sessions for all conference participants, providing an opportunity for feedback on pressing issues, but also reinforcing the importance of the student-athlete voice in the NCAA structure.

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the changes to the conference, and the respect he has for student-athlete leaders across the country.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

With two legs of the Triple Crown completed, Big Brown has captivated horse racing enthusiasts across the country for the past couple of weeks. Although he has a crack on the inside of his left hoof, Big Brown should be ready to go at the Belmont Stakes next weekend.

After Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, many folks were discussing the death of philly Eight Belles, who was put down immediately following the race. One of the people who wanted to discuss the situation was NCAA President Myles Brand, who engages on the topic in this week's edition of Mondays With Myles.

Dr. Brand discusses horse racing, gene manipulation and performance-enhancing substances in a candid conversation with NCAA Vice President Wally Renfro.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On this week's edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the fourth year of APR data and comments on the state of academic reform in intercollegiate athletics.

While Dr. Brand sees encouraging signs in baseball and football, he is concerned about the lack of progress in men's basketball. At this point in the process, however, it seems clear that athletics programs are changing their behavior and placing more of an emphasis on academics.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

The Division II National Championships Festival begins tomorrow in Houston and will continue through the weekend. One of the NCAA's premier events, the festival will hold six national championships- men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, women's lacrosse and softball.

An Olympic-style event with opening and closing ceremonies, nightly entertainment activities and all competition at one site, the DII Festival is a fan's dream. On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand shares his enthusiasm for the festival and explains what makes it so unique.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last week, the country was inspired by the story of Western Oregon's Sara Tucholsky, who hit her first career homerun and tore her ACL while rounding the bases. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman picked up her opponent and helped her around the diamond in the ultimate display of sportsmanship.

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the inspirational story, as well as other recent happenings that have made us smile each morning when we come to work.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

This morning, I caught up with NCAA President Myles Brand at the 18th annual Gender Equity and Issues Forum.

Dr. Brand attends this forum every year, and while he acknowledges that we've grown since his tenure at the NCAA began, he believes that we still have a long way to go in terms of educating people about Title IX and other gender-equity issues. Dr. Brand moderated a session yesterday afternoon called "Where Do We Go From Here?" and discusses it on our weekly podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Bill Self turned down T. Boone Pickens and Oklahoma State and decided to stay at Kansas, where he can enjoy leading one of the nation's premier programs for years to come.

While Self didn't return to his alma mater, the potential certainly raised a number of interesting questions about the influence folks like Pickens, Phil Knight and other mega-boosters have over athletics programs.

On this week's Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand compares academics and athletics boosters and says there's not much difference between the groups, especially because they're both supporting institutions of higher learning and most aren't given the latitude to make meaningful decisions.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last week, a Division III membership survey revealed that more than eight of 10 administrators were pleased with the division's current structure and don't believe restructuring is necessary.

For the past couple of years, Division III has examined the size and diversity of its membership, and working groups looked at whether a new division or a subdivision could alleviate concerns stemming from rapid growth. The alternative options discussed, however, didn't appease the majority of members in the NCAA's largest division, and things will remain as they are for the foreseeable future.

On this week's edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the survey results, what they mean and what the future could bring for Division III.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Just a few hours before the men's national championship game, NCAA President Myles Brand, NBA Commissioner David Stern and other key stakeholders announced a historic partnership regarding youth basketball.

In today's podcast, Dr. Brand discusses the structure of the partnership, which will include a president and board of directors. Dr. Brand says the hope is that the organization will be financially self-sufficient and if there any surplus dollars, they will be put back into scholarships and other initiatives that directly benefit student-athletes.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

NCAA President Myles Brand enjoys answering questions from fans of intercollegiate athletics, so on today's edition of Mondays With Myles, we went to the mailbag and answered a few submitted by Todd Lawlor, who runs the blog Hoopraker.

Todd asks Dr. Brand about the success of academic reform, verbal commitments and the oversight of officials.

If you would like Dr. Brand to answer your questions on an upcoming podcast, e-mail them to jcentor@ncaa.org.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Supporting an intercollegiate athletics program is expensive, so it's understandable that institutions need to engage in commercial activity to raise appropriate funds. But is it okay for institutions to partner with anyone who signs a large enough check?

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand addresses this topic and discusses what the NCAA looks for when it identifies corporate partners and champions.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A couple of weeks ago, we asked if it was possible to define the value of a student-athlete's life. There were some outstanding comments left on the post, so we decided to continue the conversation with NCAA President Myles Brand.

On today's Mondays With Myles podcast, we discuss Tennessee's echocardiogram program, the use of AEDs on Division III campuses and other aspects of student-athlete health.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Two weeks ago, NCAA President Myles Brand and NCAA Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus discussed Black History Month on Mondays With Myles.

On today's podcast, Charlotte swung by to join us in a conversation about historically black college and universities (HBCUs) and some of the challenges facing those institutions.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

There have been a couple of incidents of deplorable behavior this season, where fans seem to think it's appropriate to demean and degrade players on opposing teams.

On this week's edition of Mondays With Myles, the president of the NCAA discusses why this behavior is unacceptable and what we can do about it.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

February is Black History Month, so it seemed appropriate to discuss diversity issues with NCAA President Myles Brand during today's edition of Mondays With Myles.

NCAA Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Charlotte Westerhaus joined Dr. Brand and me to discuss the NCAA's commitment to diversity.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

At the 2008 NCAA Convention, the Division I Board of Directors formed a working group to look at issues of commercialism in Division I athletics.

The group came about as a result of a query from Georgia President Michael Adams, who chairs the NCAA Executive Committee, the Association's most influential body. President Adams implored his fellow presidents and chancellors to look at a new model for postseason football in the Bowl Subdivision.

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand says that the working group will look at the role commercial activity has in all games, expanding beyond the discussion of student-athlete likeness and postseason football.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

IUPUI men's basketball coach Ron Hunter raised awareness about poverty in Africa when he paced the sidelines without shoes at a game last month.

Hunter's commitment to Samaritan's Feet spawned an effort that saw more than 100,000 pairs of shoes donated for those less fortunate children who generally have to walk with bare feet.

On today's edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand praises Hunter and says we can all learn from the coach's selfless attitude.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last week, we mentioned that the Double-A Zone would be offering live blogs from this week's mock selections for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship on Wednesday and Thursday. We will also have coverage from the women's mock selections on Friday.

If you're interested in how the selection process works for the NCAA's highest-profile event, make sure to tune in to the Double-A Zone throughout the day on Wednesday, as we will offer a look inside the room, and describe the nature of conversations that occur during the mock exercise. We will also answer any and all questions that you submit about the process.

But first, we wanted to check in with NCAA President Myles Brand during his weekly podcast to gauge his excitement for the second year of mock selections at the national office.

In this edition of Mondays With Myles, Dr. Brand says there are misconceptions about how teams are selected to the tournament field, and the mock selections provide an accurate representation of what really happens on that special Sunday in March.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

For the next year, the Division III membership will discuss the potential of a membership split - with the possibility existing for the creation of Division IV.

Easily the largest of the three NCAA divisions, Division III has nearly 450 institutions, and there is some concern that if it continues to grow, access to championships and services could be compromised for student-athletes.

Therefore, a membership working group is examining the issues and hopes to make recommendations about the future of Division III before the 2009 Convention.

On today's edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand and Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher discuss the topic that will dominate discussion for most of 2008.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Some say that the NCAA should stick to college sports, and leave the social issues to others. NCAA President Myles Brand argues the contrary, suggesting that the Association has an important role to play in social justice.

In this week's Mondays With Myles podcast, Dr. Brand shares his thoughts on the NCAA as an arbiter of social change.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

President Myles Brand delivered his 2008 State of the Association address at the Opening Business Session of the NCAA Convention on Saturday evening.

The integration of academics and athletics was a key message of the address, which Dr. Brand discusses during today's Mondays With Myles podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand shares his thoughts about the advancement of the Association's communications platforms. The changes include a redesigned Web site, the transition of The NCAA News to an online-only format, the launch of Champion magazine, a new-look Double-A Zone and a daily (and weekly) e-mail called NCAA News Direct.

Find out more about the changes in today's edition of Mondays With Myles.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand wanted to take a step back and reflect on what???s important and meaningful.

While Dr. Brand says that intercollegiate athletics is important, he advises us all to put it into context. He says it is vital to understand that there are more important things than athletics competition, especially when we have fellow Americans fighting overseas, a rebuilding effort in New Orleans and starving people all over the world.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A philosopher by trade, NCAA President Myles Brand certainly knows his theories. In fact, he has developed a theory of his own - what I like to call the "chunk theory of life."

Every five years, Dr. Brand believes it is important to assess one's professional progression and determine whether or not you are achieving what you had hoped. Given that he will complete his first chunk as NCAA president in a couple of weeks, Dr. Brand's chunk theory seemed like an appropriate topic for discussion this morning.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Broadway Joe graduates. Put a cap and gown on Joe Namath, it???s time for graduation. After a Hall of Fame football career with the New York Jets, Broadway Joe has completed his bachelor???s degree at Alabama four decades after he left the university. Namath spent the past five years working in Alabama???s External Degree program, finishing the 15 credits he needed to become a graduate. Namath???s pending graduation will have a positive impact on the academic progress rate (APR) of the Alabama football program, as the Crimson Tide receive a bonus point for a former student-athlete who returned to complete his degree.

Point for Longhorns. Former Texas basketball standout Terrence Rencher left school 12 years ago, and like Namath, has returned to receive his degree. Rencher, who scored 2,306 points during his Longhorn career, lasted just one season in the NBA before heading to Europe for a 10-year professional career. Although Rencher did well enough overseas, he must continue to work in order to support himself financially, and he saw his college degree as a necessary part of his life moving forward. Rencher says it was also vital to set an example for his 5-year-old daughter Siena about the importance of education. Like the Alabama football program, Texas??? men???s basketball team will receive a bonus APR point for Rencher???s graduation.

The top 25 welcomes you, St. Mary???s. For the first time in 18 years, the St. Mary???s men???s basketball team cracked the Associated Press Top 25, debuting in this week???s poll at No. 24. The Gaels were ranked during the final three weeks of the 1988-89 season, and with Gonzaga also in the top 25, two West Coast Conference teams are ranked for the first time since 1973-74. Unfortunately for the Gaels, however, their stay in the top 25 will be short; St. Mary???s lost to unranked Southern Illinois last night, 71-56.

Centennial digs deep. During the 2007 volleyball season, the 11 schools in the Centennial Conference joined together in a fund-raising effort to fight breast cancer. In the second year of the conference???s ???Digging for a Cure??? campaign, the schools combined for 945 digs and raised $8,500 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Centennial is the only Division III conference in the country to participate in the program.

Blankets! Aurora student-athletes collected 69 handmade fleece blankets during the school???s fifth annual ???Blanket Lunch Hour??? on December 6. The blankets will benefit the Elgin chapter of Project Linus, a national non-profit organization that provides blankets and scarves to children in need.

Lancers run for greater good. Worcester State???s men???s cross country team has been doing its part in the community, as team members have used their love of running to benefit the greater good. Last month, the team raised $408 for Habitat for Humanity during a road race to help build a home for a local family. Last week, the team ran at the Ric Buxton Memorial Road Race, which provides scholarship money to a Worcester State student who has exhibited academic excellence.

NCAA President Myles Brand spent the Thanksgiving holiday with his family in Indiana, and on today???s podcast lets us know what he's most thankful for this year.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the NCAA Eligibility Center, which opened its doors on November 1.

Previously, the NCAA contracted out amateurism certification to the ACT in Iowa City, but now the services will be provided by the Association. Things have run smoothly in the first two weeks of operation, and Dr. Brand tells us why the changes are important for prospective student-athletes.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Two weeks ago, the NCAA crowned Arizona swimmer Whitney Myers its 2007 Woman of the Year. Myers, who holds 14 school records at Arizona and was a seven-time all-American, has made a mark in her local community by volunteering with local Girl Scout troops, in elementary schools and at a pharmacy. Myers was on the dean???s list every semester at Arizona and received academic all-American honors four consecutive years.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses his thoughts on the outstanding women honored at the event in Indianapolis and addresses why there isn???t a corresponding NCAA Man of the Year award.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

With all of our good conversation last week about the difference between regular-season games in the NFL and the Football Bowl Subdivision, it seemed like today was a perfect opportunity to engage NCAA President Myles Brand on the topic.

On our weekly podcast, Dr. Brand discusses yesterday's game between the Patriots and Colts, Boston College's tough loss to Florida State and why a playoff could diminish the importance of the college regular season.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last Monday, NCAA President Myles Brand discussed the rate of growth in college sports on his weekly podcast. One week later, he talks about the number of dollars institutions are spending to support their student-athletes.

In the Austin American-Statesman package, it was revealed that Texas spends more than $200,000 per Longhorn student-athlete. That money goes toward tuition, housing, textbooks, travel, food, academic services and much, much more.

For those who argue that schools should pay student-athletes, look no further than the $200,000 it takes to support each one. For more information about this trend, check out today's Mondays With Myles podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Home to one of the most successful athletics departments in the country, it won???t come as much of a surprise that Texas spends megabucks on its intercollegiate athletics program. The university has one of the lone departments to actually turn a profit in the expensive world of college sports.

A recent package in the Austin American-Statesman discussed the finances of Texas athletics, reporting that the department will spend more than $100 million during this academic year, more than twice its expenses of just six years ago. The university spends more than $200,000 to support each of its student-athletes.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the rate of growth in intercollegiate athletics and explains the economics of college sports.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On the heels of Mike Gundy's protective rant in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago, I felt compelled to engage NCAA President Myles Brand on the issue. Although Dr. Brand couldn't discuss the specifics of that instance on his weekly podcast, he did comment on the differences between college and professional athletes and how they are treated by the media.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Tim Donaghy. Bill Belichick. Marion Jones. In recent weeks, those three names have been associated with cheating and fans across the country have begun to question whether or not their favorite sports are clean or dirty.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles NCAA President Myles Brand shares his stance on cheating ??? inside the classroom and out.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the appalling behavior of some Rutgers fans at a game between the Scarlet Knights and Navy. Because that isn???t the only instance of inappropriate fan behavior at college games, it seemed an appropriate time to discuss the issue with NCAA President Myles Brand on our weekly podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Last Saturday, Eastern Illinois and West Chester played the first-ever NCAA women's rugby game. Many colleges and universities sponsor the sport at the club level, but only four give it varsity status.

If 40 programs sponsor an emerging sport at the varsity level, those teams can compete for an NCAA championship. On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the importance of emerging sports for women???s athletics.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

???It???s not whether you win or lose, it???s how you play the game.???

Remember this old adage? Well NCAA President Myles Brand says the way you play the game is important, but winning also matters.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, Dr. Brand discusses winning and losing, and says the former is clearly more important.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

It seems that hardly a night goes by during the fall without a college football game hitting the airwaves. Years ago, football games during the week were few and far between.

This may not seem like much of a big deal, as most other college sports have games at least once or twice during the week. But is this trend appropriate for the sport of football? Are conferences allowing television networks to play too much of a role in the scheduling of games?

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand says it???s a two-edged sword. Let us know if you're a fan of weekday games in our latest Double-A Poll.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

At its meeting in Indianapolis earlier this month, the NCAA Executive Committee announced a new seating configuration that will be employed at the Men???s Final Four beginning in 2009.

Venues will now seat at least 70,000 people, and most importantly, students will be moved to courtside seats to cheer on their universities. While it will still be difficult to score a ticket to college basketball???s premier event, the atmosphere should become more collegiate with the addition of teenagers right on top of the hardwood.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand tells us why he???s excited about the changes.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

I think Division II student-athletes are responsible for the best NCAA initiative out there, and most people have no idea what they???re doing.

For the past few years, Division II student-athletes have been raising thousands of dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. An initiative sponsored by the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, more than $200,000 was raised this past year to help fulfill wishes of those children who are battling severe illnesses.

While many corporations give a lot of money to organizations like Make-A-Wish, there is no larger grassroots effort in the country. Division II student-athletes stand with change containers at the NCAA Convention, sponsor car washes, attend sporting events and do whatever it takes to get an extra penny, nickel or dime for this organization.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand shares his enthusiasm for this spectacular initiative.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, Dr. Brand and I were joined by NCAA intern Kat Krtnick. The three of us discuss the NCAA???s prestigious internship program during this morning???s podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

During the past couple of weeks, we have been exposed to nonstop coverage of Tim Donaghy and the NBA officiating scandal. While it is hard to imagine a referee purposely affecting the outcome of a game, it???s not inconceivable. We???re all aware of Pete Rose???s indiscretions while he was a Major League manager, and there have also been situations where athletes have accepted money to manipulate the betting line.

Because there are instances of corruption, the NCAA has taken a hard stance with its ???Don???t Bet On It??? campaign. NCAA student-athletes, coaches and administrators aren???t permitted to wager on NCAA-sponsored sports, and there are harsh penalties for those who are caught.

On today???s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand discusses the allegations surrounding Donaghy and the NCAA???s position on sports wagering.

Listen to Mondays With Myles