Welcome to Trustees and Presidents: A Podcast for University Leaders On College Athletics
A Podcast for University Leaders On College Athletics

Audio Podcasts

Jan. 31, 2021

Life on a Big Time Basketball Campus--A Conversation with Larry Monet…

Duke's Krzyzewskiville--The Most Famous On-Campus Pre-Game Housing In America Duke is famous for “ Krzyzewskiville ”, where students are known to literally camp out overnight for tickets, all the while to create a frenetic ho...

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Jan. 19, 2021

FOIA, FOIA, FOIA...the Explosion of Independent Investigative Journal…

Welcome! Today's podcast will discuss the explosion of journalism focused on college sports, and in particular, the incredible work being done by independent writers in this space. For many, this is a labor of love; for some ...

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Jan. 17, 2021

The Paris Olympic Games in 2024 will look very different-how will tha…

Welcome to 2021! The Olympic program in 2024 is going to look very different. Of the 32 sports on the Olympic program, only 16 - (exactly HALF) of the 2024 Olympic sports - correlate with an NCAA-sanctioned national champions...

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Dec. 15, 2020

Disruption-The 2020 Review of College Athletics

Former college President and occasional guest host Scott Flanagan joins me for a look back at the most remarkable year in college sports history. We talk about Presidential decisions to close campuses and what has changed in ...

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Dec. 4, 2020

If colleges keep dropping Olympic sports, what happens to the US Olym…

Ahead of a 60 minutes segment on the future of Olympic sports scheduled for Sunday December 6, I talked with KYW Radio's Matt Leon about what Olympic sports bring to college athletic programs. As a former field hockey coach (...

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Nov. 18, 2020

Higher Education's Complicity in the Youth Sports Industrial Complex-…

I’m joined today by Tom Farrey , Executive Director of the Sports and Society Program. He is best known for his work on college and youth sports reform, with The Nation writing that Tom “ has done more than any reporter in th...

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Nov. 12, 2020

So You Think You Want to be a College President (During A Pandemic an…

Let me introduce you to Vaughn College (NY). It is a unique place to be a college athlete, because one of its main academic majors is aviation. And as you may know, the airlines have been deeply impacted by the current recess...

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Nov. 9, 2020

Dropping Olympic Sports, Conference TV revenues and Stressed Athletic…

I was invited to join the Athletic Business podcast to talk about athletics business-go figure. We discuss about the state of the Big Ten, of Olympic Sports survival, conference realignment possibilities, including blowing up...

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Nov. 1, 2020

Navigating The Economic, Cultural, Structural And Regulatory Pressure…

So much of what we have talked about (and who we have talked with) involves leadership. Whether it’s in the President’s Office, as a Board member, as a higher ed scholar, or heading up a national education association, naviga...

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Oct. 27, 2020

Alaska's University System Faces Drastic Financial Cuts, And Not Just…

What's it like to lead a University in the middle of a pandemic? Add cuts to state funding and declining enrollment, and you'll get a taste of the challenges my guest has faced. State governments, and state universities are u...

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Oct. 20, 2020

Presidential Support From A Division I Athletics Director's Perspecti…

Those who have been listening to the podcast for awhile now know that I have interviewed very few people who work inside an athletics department. I do this because there is a gap in our knowledge and understanding of all the ...

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Oct. 5, 2020

What Does College Athletics Look Like in 2021?

What questions are facing higher education leaders as they begin to think about college athletics in 2021? How comfortable are we with the optics of playing college football this fall? How does it reflect on all of higher edu...

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Sept. 23, 2020

Who Decides Whether A College Survives Or Dies? In Part, the Accredit…

One of the most important things for a college to have is a seal of approval from an outside agency. This agency certifies on a regular basis that, among other things, the college is worthy of Federal Funds, is meeting academ...

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Sept. 13, 2020

Who's In Charge In The Big Ten? Why The 1990 Decision To Add Penn Sta…

The Roots of the Big Ten's Disconnectedness Go Back 30 Years. When the Big Ten Conference added Penn State University in 1990, ADs jumped up and down screaming that the Presidents had made a decision without their input. Back...

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Sept. 10, 2020

A Senior Leader's Guide To Navigating Names, Images and Likenesses Qu…

"This may be the most significant development for athlete's economic rights in our lifetime"- Walt Harrison, former chair of the NCAA President's Council. Your athletic program is about to look very different. Simply put, som...

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Sept. 3, 2020

The Role Of College Trustees In Making Athletics Decisions: The Syner…

A conversation exploring college athletics not from the court, field, or locker room…but from the board room. From the White House to the Big House and everywhere in between, there’s a remarkable amount of chatter about the d...

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Aug. 28, 2020

Division III Conference Was Confident Their Return to Campus Plans We…

The American Rivers Conference (ARC) was set. The President's Council had been meeting throughout the summer, tracking localized Covid-19 trends, and ensuring their safety protocols were in place. Then, in mid August, the NCA...

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Aug. 19, 2020

A 3 Time Division I College President Weighs In On NCAA Reform Effort…

The NCAA is failing college football. In August 2020, college sports leaders witnessed the limits of the power that NCAA President Mark Emmert has to control the five most visible Conferences--the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12...

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Aug. 15, 2020

The Pandemic Will Drive Down Media Revenues: What Does That Mean For …

It seems like everyone is talking about money--the money made in college sports in general, and the money that may be lost as a result of this pandemic. With fall football being cancelled in both the Big Ten and the Pac-12, I...

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Aug. 12, 2020

President to President--A Conversation About Playing Football in 2020

This conversation may surprise you. And it might give you insight into why some schools ARE playing sports this fall. Following weeks of announcements from conferences across the nation postponing fall competitions until next...

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July 31, 2020

Mid-Summer Break--What Sports Could Be Played In The Coronavirus Era?

To lighten it up a bit (and hopefully make you smile), I'm joined by my colleague Ross Aikins to do some sports bantering. Ross (who is a public health scholar who loves sports) and I (on a steep learning curve about public h...

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July 30, 2020

"The Summer Melt Could Turn Into A Summer Avalanche"

The number of college conferences that have suspended, modified or cancelled Fall sports in mind numbing. Presidents and Commissioners have had to make tremendously difficult decisions--the cancelling of a fall season could m...

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July 29, 2020

"College Athletes Bill of Rights" --A Conversation With Kendall Spenc…

In July 2020, the Senate Judiciary Committee convened a hearing called "Protecting the Integrity of College Athletics". Led by Senators Blumenthal, Graham and Booker, the Committee announced their intent to create a " College...

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July 27, 2020

The Pac-12 Conference Is An Elite Athletic Conference-Why Do They Str…

In July, Stanford announced they were dropping 11 Olympic sports, going from 36 to 25 total sports. The Cardinal are the most successful overall Division I athletics program in the last 20 years, yet they have been struggling...

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