Gov. Charlie Baker To Become Next NCAA President After Term Expires

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker will soon trade in his seat on Beacon Hill for the top job in all of collegiate athletics.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association said Thursday morning that Baker will take on the role effect in March 2023 when his second and final term as Massachusetts governor expires. The Swampscott resident did not run for re-election this past year.

"I am honored to become the next president of the NCAA, an organization that impacts millions of families and countless communities across this country every day," Baker said in a statement late Thursday morning. "The NCAA is confronting complex and significant challenges, but I am excited to get to work as the awesome opportunity college athletics provides to so many students is more than worth the challenge.

"And for the fans that faithfully fill stadiums, stands and gyms from coast to coast, I am eager to ensure the competitions we all love to follow are there for generations to come. Over the coming months, I will begin working with student-athletes and NCAA members as we modernize college sports to suit today's world while preserving its essential value."

The NCAA said in a statement that Baker's appointment "marks the culmination of a comprehensive and inclusive national search process" and touted his bipartisan leadership in Massachusetts in an era of divisive national politics and amid the COVID-19 health crisis, as well as his turnaround of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care as its chief executive officer when it was on the verge of bankruptcy prior to him running for governor.

"We are excited to welcome Governor Charlie Baker to the NCAA and eager for him to begin his work with our organization," said Linda Livingstone, President of Baylor University and Chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, in a statement. "Governor Baker has shown a remarkable ability to bridge divides and build bipartisan consensus, taking on complex challenges in innovative and effective ways.

"As a former student-athlete (at Harvard University) himself, husband to a former college gymnast, and father to two former college football players, Governor Baker is deeply committed to our student-athletes and enhancing their collegiate experience. These skills and perspective will be invaluable as we work with policymakers to build a sustainable model for the future of college athletics."

Baker will face a daunting and complex landscape as the next NCAA chief with recent legal rulings allowing athletes a much greater ability to transfer schools and profit off their likenesses and abilities. The NCAA said the changes threaten its "ability to serve as an effective national regulator for college athletics" and have resulted in what it called "an untenable patchwork of individual state laws."

"We know that to be successful, the NCAA president needs to possess the ability to balance competing priorities, inspire a shared vision, and create a broad sense of trust," said former NBA star Grant Hill, an independent member of the NCAA Board of Governors and member of the presidential search committee. "As Governor of Massachusetts and a successful private sector CEO, Charlie Baker has demonstrated the type of results-oriented, bipartisan approach that we will need to bolster the well-being of student-athletes, realize the opportunities and overcome the challenges facing the NCAA."

Baker succeeds Dr. Mark Emmert, who will continue to serve the NCAA as a consultant through June 2023.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)