Font ResizeWhen Brand, the NCAA president who died Wednesday in Indianapolis at age 67 from pancreatic cancer, dealt with issues such as academic reform or postseason football, he framed discussion in terms of the welfare of the student-athlete.
Graduation rates should be higher, college shouldn`t be a rest stop to the professional-bound athlete, traditions should be maintained were part of Brand`s mantra.
But in some circles he`ll be known as the university president who fired Bob Knight as Indiana`s basketball coach. That happened in 2000, two years before taking over the NCAA.
Among his legacies will be the Academic Progress Rate, created on his watch to measure eligibility,
Brand was speaking of the APR in one of his last public appearance at an awards ceremony in Indianapolis in June.
"It`s been my great pleasure to help lead the work of the NCAA these past seven years," Brand said. "I believe it`s a great mission, and we are now harvesting the benefits of our hard work."
Brand was unapologetic when the most recent batch of APR results released in May identified two teams -- Centenary men`s basketball and Tennessee-Chattanooga football -- as the first to receive postseason bans because of poor academic results.
"I think it is a watershed because it shows the depth and severity of the penalties for schools that cannot come into compliance with academic performance," Brand said.
Brand was bothered by the NBA age-limit rule that prohibits those younger than 19 from entering the NBA. It`s meant that many players who would have skipped college altogether must spend at least one year in school.
But it`s also led to a one-and-done trend, where players remain in school for only one year, and can relax in the classroom during the second semester knowing they won`t be in school for a second year. Brand favored a two-year waiting period for the NBA. "Even if players leave after a year and a half, it is likely they would have attended two summer sessions," Brand wrote in his blog. "... That`s five semesters and a lot further down the road than the one-and-done allows."
He was willing to discuss a college football playoff but was careful with his public comments. Brand often reminded audiences that the NCAA took flak for several issues, but it couldn`t for this one because the organization had no control over college football`s future.
Brand enjoyed the championships, and not just the NCAA`s marquee championship, the men`s Final Four. Just after the NCAA and Omaha, Neb., signed a long-term contract extension for the baseball championships, Brand said the event was home. "I couldn`t imagine doing something like this with another city."
Brand was the fourth NCAA President and the first from a non-athletic department background. He succeeded Cedric Dempsey, the former Arizona athletic director. Dick Schultz, who had been Virginia`s athletic director, replaced the first president Walter Byers.
Brand came to the job from his post as president of Indiana, where he made national sports news by firing basketball coach Knight. Brand had put the controversial coach on a zero-tolerance policy in 2000 after a former player alleged Knight had choked him practice the previous year.
Four months later, Brand fired Knight after an Indiana student accused Knight of grabbing him.
Before taking over at Indiana, Brand spent five years as president at the University of Oregon. He also held administrative posts at Ohio State and led the philosophy departments at the University of Arizona and Illinois-Chicago after starting his career as a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
"Myles Brand will be remembered not only for his unyielding demand that intercollegiate athletics reflect the values of higher education but also for his advocacy of the student-athlete," NCAA Executive Vice President Bernard Franklin said in a news release.
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