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NCAA President Charlie Baker continues to showcase his inability to govern
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 26: Former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker arrives for the White House state dinner for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the White House on April 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee for a State Dinner. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) | Getty Images
A lot of us grew up being taught that if you do not have something nice to say, don’t say anything. The problem, though, is that we were taught this by parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that didn’t have to witness the reign of NCAA President Charlie Baker. After taking the job back in 2023, it is still unclear what his job actually is, mostly because he refuses to do it. The statement he released yesterday made this very clear.
Baker released a statement in favor of the Protect College Sports Act being passed, and the verbiage very much implied that Congress runs the NCAA now. See for yourself:
NCAA president Charlie Baker's letter to US senators urging them to pass the Protect College Sports Act pic.twitter.com/Q8Hc7fxC3P
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 3, 2026
“On behalf of the NCAA, our member schools and the student-athletes we serve, I write to express our strong support for the Protect College Sports Act and to urge Senate to pass this vital legislation without delay.
As student-athletes are returning to campuses ahead of the upcoming academic year, they need clarity. The assault on the integrity of college athletics continues, with new lawsuits further threatening the stability of the upcoming college football season. Student-athletes cannot afford to start another school year under a slow of regulatory instability and legal confusion.“
Allow me to read Baker’s statement another way: “I have no idea what the President of the NCAA is supposed to do, so I need Congress to do my job for me.”
Baker’s ability to avoid any and all responsibility for what is happening in the college landscape is maddening to say the very least. The only reason we’re in this current situation is because the NCAA never enforced any checks and balances for Congress’ decision to allow players to make money off their Name, Image, and Likeness. That isn’t to say that players shouldn’t get paid — they absolutely should be able to make money off the exact things that I just said — but Baker knew that with NIL there needed to be regulation, and he decided to turn a blind eye to it. Now things are insufferably bad, and instead of remembering that the NCAA is within its rights to reel in their member institutions, Baker is running to Capitol Hill yet again for a solution. It’s cowardice at its finest, and it’s this kind of behavior that makes member institutions bolting on the NCAA that much more enticing.
The most egregious part of Baker’s statement was when he said federal intervention was “urgently required” to stabilize the future of college sports. Required? That’s the only way it can be done, huh? Such a statement doesn’t land correctly given the NCAA’s history of overstepping their boundaries time and time again. What makes this situation different? The likely answer is not wanting to face more lawsuits than it is already facing, but in a way that makes hiding behind Congress even sillier. If you introduced a salary/NIL cap that the Power Four conferences agreed upon, for instance, then what is there to be afraid of?
There is a middle grown between the NCAA overstepping boundaries and doing absolutely nothing, but Baker is hellbent on taking the nothing path. If Congress ends up being the one to fix college athletics, then fine. Great. We all would enjoy the sport a lot better with more financial and realignment regulations compared to what is happening now. But even if that happens, my question will be: why is Charlie Baker even here? Why does he even have his job? Why is he the meme of the guy wearing a hat at a party with a beer saying, “They don’t know that I am getting paid silly amounts of money to be the NCAA President.”
Perhaps it is time that someone holds the NCAA’s feet to the fire and make them govern, or maybe it’s finally time to move on from the NCAA period.
NCAA President Charlie BakerHe’sFormer Massachusetts Governor Charlie BakerWhite HouseSouth Korean President Yoon SukWashingtonPresident Joe BidenJill BidenSouth KoreanKim KeonState DinnerPhoto
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