Leading The Way
By Tom Symonds
HurricaneSports.com
University of Miami Athletics Director Blake James likes being involved in all aspects of collegiate athletics.
So when he was presented with the opportunity to serve as the chair of the NCAA Division I Council this past summer, the Minnesota native wasted little time in jumping toward the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of student-athletes across the country.
“I think if you want to improve what we are doing as an Association, you need to be involved,” James said. “We need leadership to step up and I felt that it was important to do my part when my time came.”
James assumed control of the chair of the Division I Council back in July and although the position adds significant responsibility to an already loaded schedule, James has no regrets about his decision to take on additional leadership opportunities.
“It’s been a great experience,” James said. “Overall it’s what I expected or at least what the NCAA staff told me that it would be. We have a great group of leaders on the Council and the first two meetings that I have chaired have gone very well and I feel confident that we are going to continue to improve the student experience for young men and women that compete in intercollegiate athletics.”
Under James’ leadership, the Council, which features a representative from all 32 conferences, four commissioners, two FAR’s and two students, focuses on three NCAA core values – academics, well-being and fairness. In addition, the Council sub-committees include the participation of student-athletes, coaches and administrators.
The Council, created in 2014 through the reorganization of Division I governance, began discussing how to improve the student-athlete experience at its first meeting in January 2015.
James replaced Northwestern Athletics Director Jim Phillips, who served two years as the Council chair and now serves on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection committee.
“Jim did an outstanding job of leading the group,” James said. “He left the Council in a great position, which made the transition for me very easy. He’s also someone who has great perspective and insight and when needed he’s been there for me to reach out.”
Although the term of the Division I Council chair only spans two years, James believes that numerous discussions can still exist to further advance the student-athlete experience during his tenure.
“I’m not starting over,” James said. “I had the benefit of being on the Council for two years so when I had the opportunity to step into the chair, I had a full understanding of where we were at and what we have accomplished.
“While it is a period that will fly by, I think you take the momentum of the Council and you continue to make the necessary changes. I just grabbed the baton from Jim with the hopes of leading the Council to even greater levels.”
As the Council heads into its first meeting of 2018, James believes early recruiting and transfers are the two areas that provide the Council with the greatest opportunity for improvement.
“Those are two of the bigger opportunities we have to improve the student experience and we’ll continue to put a lot of time and effort into figuring out what’s best for the students and what’s best for intercollegiate athletics,” James said. “There’s a lot of ongoing dialogue with students,coaches, administrators and presidents all hoping for the best outcome.”
In addition, James would like the committee to continue to move toward a modernization of the NCAA’s rules.
“I think anyone who works in college athletics knows that there’s a lot of different rules in our manual that don’t make sense in our day and age, so I think we need to continue to modernize the rules and make sure that the rules we have in place are enforceable and that they are in the best interest of the intercollegiate experience,” James said.
James believes in the overall mission of the Council and has described his tenure as chair as an outstanding experience so far.
James believes the Council has made a significant change in the student-athlete experience despite forming just a few years ago, but admits that there is still plenty of work to be done.
“I think we have addressed a number of things over the past three years,” James said. “Just look at what that student-athlete experience is today versus what it was even few years ago. I think we need to be transparent and continue educating the media and the general public on what the student-athlete experience is really like and continue listening to our student-athlete leaders on how we can better the experience.
“I think as a Council we need to get a better understanding of how we put a structure in place that is best for the students during the recruiting process, as that is something that I believe we have plenty of room for improvement, just as we do with transfers. But it’s my hope that by the time I leave my chair position that we’ve really been able to make significant improvements in those areas.”
