Mark Emmert

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During Emmert's tenure, Pennsylvania State University was rocked by the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was accused and later convicted of sexually abusing several children, including those he had taken to the Penn State athletic facilities. He was also accused of using his access to the Penn State football program as a way of luring victims. The University Board removed the President, Executive Vice President, Athletic Director, and head football coach because of their handling of the Sandusky matter. The media outcry over the scandal was enormous. In response to the uniqueness of the Penn State case and the nature of the allegations, the NCAA Executive Committee and Emmert agreed with the University that Penn State should be allowed to conduct its own inquiry into the scandal.

In July 2012, former FBI Director Louis Freeh reported to the Penn State board that many serious missteps within the university administration and football program had occurred. Based upon the Freeh report, as well as material made public through the criminal processes, the NCAA Executive Committee, a group of 20 university and college presidents and senior leaders, along with the Division I Board of Directors, also a group of university presidents, agreed to a series of sanctions. They empowered Emmert to enter into an agreement with the Penn State leadership to jointly accept a consent decree.

Ed Ray, Executive Committee chair at that time and Oregon State president, said that while there has been much speculation on whether the NCAA [19] had the authority to impose any type of penalty related to Penn State, the Executive Committee concluded that the egregious behavior not only goes against the NCAA's rules and constitution, but also against its values.

While many in the media called for Penn State football to receive the so-called "death penalty", the Executive Committee and Emmert instead entered into the consent decree with Penn State leadership that included imposing a $60 million fine to be used to fund nonprofit organizations that combat child sexual abuse, a multi-year reduction in football scholarships, a multi-year postseason ban on football, a vacation of wins from the formal record book for the period during which Sandusky was believed to have been engaging in sexual abuse of children, and the imposition of an Athletic Integrity Agreement, which was monitored by former Senator George J. Mitchell. The Big Ten conference, which includes Penn State as a member, also imposed sanctions on the university as a result of the scandal. The outcome was highly controversial among those who sought harsher punishment and those who sought greater leniency. Supporters of greater leniency argued that the basis of the consent decree, the Freeh Report, was overreaching and not supported empirically. [20] [21] Freeh has vigorously defended the report and its conclusions. He is being sued for defamation by Graham Spanier, the former president of Penn State. [22] Spanier, along with two other former Penn State executives, were found guilty of criminal charges. Critics accused Emmert and the NCAA Executive Committee of a "rush to judgment" that did not provide sufficient due process even though the university itself agreed to the settlement agreement. [23]

Emmert, however, was criticized over the Penn State case after internal emails surfaced revealing NCAA officials bluffed the university into accepting sanctions. [24]

Several legal actions have occurred since the Penn State scandal was uncovered, some involving Penn State, Emmert, and the NCAA and its members; others have been focused on the university itself as it made restitution with the victims of the scandal. A legal suit was brought against Penn State and the NCAA by Pennsylvania Senator Jake Corman regarding where the funds from the fine should be spent. [25] The case was ultimately settled by an agreement that the funds could be spent on child sexual abuse prevention within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and that the wins that had been vacated from the record book be restored. Major news media outlets both praised and criticized Emmert and the NCAA. Many writers that called for aggressive sanctions against the university, including the so-called death penalty, were disappointed that the NCAA had reduced its sanctions, while other were critical of their "rush to judgment" and started asking whether the culture at the NCAA was broken under Emmert's leadership. [26] His presidency has been called "feckless, arrogant, self-aggrandizing, inept" and operating under "tortured logic." [27]

Final resolution of Penn State-Sandusky scandal

On May 5, 2016, a Pennsylvania judge, Gary Glazer, barred Penn State from receiving insurance coverage to pay settlements to Sandusky's accusers. The judge pointed to the university's "negligent employment, investigation, and retention of Sandusky", adding that, "When he abused children...he was still a PSU assistant coach and professor, and clothed in the glory associated with those titles, particularly in the eyes of impressionable children. By cloaking him with a title that enabled him to perpetrate his crimes, PSU must assume some responsibility for what he did both on and off campus." PSU at that point had paid out $93 million to more than 30 Sandusky accusers. [28]

On October 27, 2016, Mike McQueary, the former assistant coach who reported to Joe Paterno that he had observed Sandusky sexually assaulting a child in the team's showers, was awarded $7.3 million by a Pennsylvania jury, to be paid by Penn State for defamation. Shortly thereafter on November 20, 2016, the judge in the case, Thomas Gavin, ruled in favor of McQueary's whistleblower claim and added another $5 million to the jury verdict. In a rebuke to PSU, Gavin wrote, "Only when the 'Sandusky Matter' became public was Mr. McQueary subjected to disparate treatment and adverse employment consequences." The university, he stated, had imposed "the equivalent of banishment" on McQueary, including "being told to clean out his office in the presence of Penn State personnel, an action that suggests he had done something wrong and was not to be trusted." [29]

On June 2, 2017, in the remaining criminal cases all three of the university's administrators – Spanier, Schultz, and Curly – originally implicated by the Freeh Report and the grand jury were found guilty of child endangerment by the State of Pennsylvania and sentenced to jail time. The judge in the case, John Boccabella, when announcing the sentences said, "Why Mr. Sandusky was allowed to continue to go to the Penn State facilities is beyond me. All three ignored the opportunity to put an end to [Sandusky's] crimes when they had a chance to do so." Boccabella also criticized deceased head coach Joe Paterno, saying he "could have made that phone call without so much as getting his hands dirty. Why he didn't is beyond me." [30]

Other honors and professional affiliations

Emmert is currently a Life Member of the Council of Foreign Relations and a fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration. He is a former Fulbright Administrative Fellow, and a former Fellow of the American Council on Education. He serves as a Director on the boards of Weyerhaeuser and Expeditors International. In June 2016, he sold approximately $300,000 in Weyerhaeuser shares. Emmert has been honored with several honorary degrees from American universities and colleges.

Emmert was named President Emeritus by the University of Washington Board of Regents in 2010. He holds honorary degrees from several colleges and universities.

On March 18, 2014, Emmert was a guest on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike . During his appearance, an #AskEmmert hashtag was used to propose questions for Emmert. While well-intended, the hashtag was quickly used by the public to air grievances about NCAA actions and express general disapproval with Emmert's presidency. [31]

Personal life

Mark and DeLaine Emmert have been married for more than 40 years and have two adult children.[ citation needed ]

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Mark Emmert
Mark Emmert at the United States Coast Guard Academy, February 2014 (cropped).jpg
Emmert in February 2014
5th President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
In office
November 1, 2010 March 1, 2023