Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher (7/20/2021) College Football Media Day Quote, 07/20/2021

Good morning ‚Äì I believe the last time I had the privilege to appear in front of the media, in-person, was on March 12, 2020 ‚Äì the day I announced we would be shutting down our basketball tournament due to the COVID-19 virus. What a journey it has been from that point until today. Let me welcome you to the kickoff of the 2021 Mid-American Conference football season. To our guests with us today ‚Äì the assembled media, bowl partners, corporate partners, and the many fans joining us – it is good to be with you and I cannot wait for the first kickoff just over five weeks from now. Welcome to our two new head coaches ‚Äì Maurice Linquist at Buffalo and Tim Albin at Ohio (show slide). Also, we have two new directors of athletics ‚Äì Akron’s Charles Guthrie and Kent State’s Randale Richmond (show slide). Welcome to MACtion! I would be remiss not to recognize the extraordinary career of recently retired Ohio head coach Frank Solich (show slide). He transformed the Bobcat football program. I believe most of our coaches would point to him as the model for how to build and sustain a program. The winningest coach in Mid-American Conference history ‚Äì quite an achievement. Certainly, a future College Football Hall of Famer.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ‚Äì Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

During my senior year of high school while taking an independent study in English literature I read and studied Dickens’ masterpiece ‚Äì A Tale of Two Cities. The paragraph I just quoted is the perhaps the most famous opening passage in English literature. I am not sure that as a 17-year-old I had the capacity or life history to understand how it is possible to experience a series of opposites at the same time, or the emotional peaks and valleys conveyed by Dickens. Today, I cannot think of a better description of the past 17 months. The contrasts lived as we witnessed a society in conflict over following the science or discounting and discrediting scientists and doctors; arguing over what constitutes an individual right versus our shared obligations to each other. We have observed the worst in people and witnessed incredible acts of compassion and heroism.

As I look back on the last year, I cannot help having a great sense of pride and satisfaction that despite the obstacles and challenges faced, the Mid-American Conference and its member institutions found a way to facilitate academic and athletic opportunities for the more than 5,000 student-athletes competing in the Conference. We crowned champions in 24 sports, including the inaugural women’s lacrosse championship, one of 13 women’s championships sponsored by the league.

I remember going undefeated in bowl games and having two Top 25 teams in Ball State and Buffalo. Winning a game in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament for the third consecutive tourney, with Ohio knocking off defending champion Virginia, marking the second time the Mid-American Conference has put together such a streak. Kent State’s women’s golf team won its 22nd consecutive Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Finals. Miami’s softball team finished with a 46-8 record, a school record for wins. And in men’s soccer, the Mid-American Conference was the top-rated soccer conference, yet somehow the NCAA men’s soccer committee did not offer any at-large invites to MAC teams, even though the only two teams to defeat the national champion came from this Conference. I still cannot understand the logic in those decisions. And we ended the year with Central Michigan pitcher Andrew Taylor being named the national Freshman Pitcher of the Year and the Co-National Freshman of the Year.

With the Olympic and Paralympic Games almost upon us, I look forward to watching the 11 current or former Mid-American Conference student-athletes that will be competing (show slide).

To get through the year – our student-athletes underwent a regular testing program. Last season our football student-athletes took more than 36,000 COVID tests. Through incredible discipline, attention to detail and good fortune, we had a positivity rate of less than .5%. Simply amazing! A group that emerged as superstars for the membership are the members of the Mid-American Conference Medical Advisory Group (show slides). This group met on an almost weekly basis throughout the year. Through their efforts we developed and revised COVID protocols and procedures, navigated differences in state and local health requirements, and ultimately the efforts and expertise of the Medical Advisory Group piloted the membership through a unique and challenging time. Their efforts have been and continue to be greatly appreciated. It should be noted that we are not through with COVID-19. I cannot overemphasize the importance of coaches and student-athletes, and in fact, all of us being vaccinated. The Delta variant is exceptionally virulent and those not vaccinated are at the greatest risk. Just think back to the recently concluded College Baseball World Series and the North Carolina State baseball team that was sent home when it was on the brink of winning a national championship. Unvaccinated participants are at risk and their team is at risk. Those who chose not to receive a vaccination will be in a testing protocol. In addition, unvaccinated individuals will be subject to quarantine if they have a close contact with an infected individual. I encourage all who have not yet done so to consult their doctor and please get a vaccine.

In addition to the challenges of COVID-19, a great spotlight was shined on the social and civil rights inequities that exist. I greatly admired the efforts of so many of our student-athletes as they shared their voices and provided leadership on their campuses and communities in addressing these issues with passion and in constructive ways. Also, the student-athletes, in a program established by the Conference but run by the student-athletes, conducted a series called “Courageous Conversations.” Over the course of the past year, the student-athletes had four conversations around issues of diversity and social justice, and four conversations on issues of mental health.

There is no shortage of issues with regards to intercollegiate athletics. In April, after six years of study, discussion, and contemplation, the NCAA membership approved a unified transfer policy. For years, NCAA regulations have permitted student-athletes in all but five sports the ability to transfer once and not require a year in residence to be immediately eligible for competition. In the sports of men’s and women’s basketball, football, baseball, and men’s ice hockey a one-time transfer exception was not permitted. After studying the issue, it became evident there was no educational basis for the differential treatment. What was ultimately approved was a one-time transfer exception for all student-athletes. I expect the next couple of years will be a bit choppy as both student-athletes and coaches adapt to the revised rules. Clearly, there are too many student-athletes who have entered the transfer portal ‚Äì many of whom have no realistic expectation of finding a place to transfer to. I expect both student-athletes and coaching staffs will become savvier and more strategic in adjusting to the modernization of transfer rules. Considering the unified transfer rules, there are additional changes which must be addressed in short order. First, there needs to be a change in the Academic Progress Rate, or APR, so that programs are not penalized if a student-athlete transfers. Programs will unfairly lose retention points and possibly be penalized for decisions made by the student-athletes. The APR has been tremendous in reinforcing the primacy of a student-athlete’s academic attainment. But, just as transfer rules have been modernized, the APR must be reformed to account for changes in student-athlete enrollment behaviors. Also, attention must be given to adjusting the initial signing cap regulations. When a football program falls behind in its squad size, often due to a change in coaching staff or student-athletes moving on, it becomes almost impossible to catch-up. There must be a way to permit a program the opportunity to rebuild its roster and do so in a way that does not encourage run-offs, oversignings, or other negative behaviors that are behind the initial cap rule.

The era of student-athletes utilizing their name, image, and likeness to be compensated by third parties for things such as promotional activities or endorsements is upon us. Two years ago, at our Council of Directors of Athletics meeting prior to football media day we spent several hours focused solely on this issue. We brought in legal and marketing executives and NCAA staff so we could explore what this could mean. Since that time, we have had numerous discussions on that topic. It is unfortunate that we do not have a single national standard guiding us. It is challenging to run national championships without national standards of conduct. Quite frankly, this is a failure by the entire Association and reflects a lack of strategic direction and execution. The die was cast on this issue two years ago when the state of California passed NIL legislation. At that time, the NCAA had two choices, pursue a legal strategy challenging California, and or implementing its own NIL legislation. The first was not pursued, the second was not accomplished. As a result, we are left with little direction at this time. Hopefully, Congress will act soon on this matter. I view NIL as a tremendous multi-disciplinary educational opportunity for student-athletes. To maximize their potential, student-athletes will need to become proficient in areas of branding, marketing, and communications in addition to gaining some knowledge around taxes and contracts – all useful skills as they prepare for life after college.

There was significant attention around the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Alston case. While I always thought the case could go either way, I admit I was a surprised it was a unanimous decision. What was missed in the commentary was this was a ruling dealing with a narrow set of additional benefits tethered to education. Institutions and conferences will grapple with how to best manage these permissive educational benefits for student-athletes.

The bigger message I took away from the decision and the concurring decision was the need for the membership of the NCAA to get its act together. For upwards of two decades, we have spoken of the need to modernize our rules. I look back at what were considered significant rules changes ‚Äì allowing full scholarship athletes to hold jobs, cost of attendance, a unified transfer rule. In each case, you would have thought the entire enterprise of intercollegiate athletics was about to collapse based on feedback from many of the practitioners. Nonsense! If we, as an association of member institutions, cannot figure out how to become nimbler, to change and adapt without going through such extreme contortions, then the NCAA is at risk. And that risk is that someone else will make those decision for the enterprise of intercollegiate athletics. Frankly, our current NCAA governance system is not efficient. Our system of developing, evaluating and ultimately implementing regulations does not always provide optimal outcomes. A couple of examples. Transfer rules had not undergone significant revision since the 1960’s yet it took six years to make changes that if the NCAA membership did not change, the courts or state and federal government were likely to do so. That is unacceptable. As another example, we have been asking our coaching groups and sports groups to reexamine their recruiting rules, recruiting calendars, recruiting practices. The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, under the leadership of Toledo Head Women’s Coach Tricia Cullop who served as the WBCA president last year, developed a comprehensive overhaul of the women’s basketball recruiting rules. The proposed rule changes were innovative, thoughtful, and changed the way recruiting would take place in women’s basketball to make it more sensible for both the student-athletes and the coaches. The knee jerk reaction of many was to discount the proposals and to complain about competitive issues. Fortunately, we will have the chance to consider these proposals again in the coming year. We must figure out a way to modernize our rules and put a premium on creativity and innovation. There are only a few sacrosanct standards ‚Äì primarily, we do not pay student-athletes and they are not employees. After that, we need to look long and hard at why we have a rule and what it accomplishes. Is it for administrative ease, or is it to protect or enhance the student-athlete experience?

My father, who spent years as a coach and tenured professor, and then 25 years as a director of athletics, shared with me early in my career the following quote – “There is nothing wrong in being professional, and nothing holy in being an amateur. Athletic immorality begins when having agreed to one, a college does the other.” This was written by the Reverend Karl Henrichs when he served as director of athletics at the university my father attended when he was a student-athlete. This philosophy would serve us well as the foundation of our enterprise as we rethink how to move forward.

The enforcement of NCAA rules has become fractured. I do not blame those trying to make the system work – I just question that serious infractions can be managed by the existing structure. Individuals facing significant sanctions have figured out how to stall and obfuscate. It takes too long for people who commit grave infractions to be penalized which does little to discourage aberrant behavior and hinders the integrity of the enforcement process. We spend entirely too much time and too many resources on insignificant matters.

The membership of NCAA Division I must become more strategic and show an ability to adapt, or others will be making the decisions for how to operate the enterprise of intercollegiate athletics. There are some rules and processes that perhaps can be best managed at the institutional or conference level. Some level of deregulation makes sense. Interestingly, as a Conference we have been talking about this for the past couple of years. However, we will need a set of uniform standards, rules, and processes to conduct equitable national competition and championships.

I fully support the effort to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams. While we have not taken a vote of our membership, I have had conversations with our presidents, directors of athletics, head football coaches, a group of football student-athletes, and will be talking shortly with our faculty athletics representatives. To date the feedback has been positive. A two-team playoff was better than none. A four-team playoff was better than two. A 12-team playoff will be better than four. It will be more inclusive, fairer, bring increased importance and relevancy to the regular season and Conference championship games. I caution that there are some operational hurdles in the short term as we are under contact for the next five years. Hopefully, later this fall we can come to some conclusions on moving forward.

This season marks the 75th season of Mid-American Conference football (show slide). What an incredible journey for this league. Amazing players and coaches across the decades have come through the Mid-American Conference. Let’s take a quick look back … (show video). Throughout the season we will share more about the remarkable people who have competed in this league.

Finally, its time to get back to MACtion. Great coaches, talented and exciting student-athletes, big non-conference games, big Conference games, with the conclusion coming on Saturday December 4, when we kick-off the Rocket Mortgage Mid-American Conference football championship game at 12 noon right here at Ford Field. It is what we have been waiting for. I wish our teams the very best … It’s time to Fly the Flag!