As the NCAA’s Power 5 close in on a decision on the future of college football in 2020, one key name has been missing from the conversation: Mark Emmert’s.
The NCAA president has remained in the background as conferences deliberate regarding whether or not to play in 2020. That led ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum to dismiss Emmert as a “complete embarrassment” in an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up!” Monday morning.
“It’s easy for Mark Emmert to pass the buck. But he’s the single most influential person — at least image-wise and perceptively — in the system of intercollegiate athletics, and he hasn’t offered one thing,” Finebaum said, via Riley Gates of 247 Sports. “He has been a complete embarrassment. And part of this is his fault. He has not spoken out, he has not said anything but passing the buck.”
Emmert has essentially left the decisions on the season to schools and conferences, and none of the Power 5 are particularly eager to be either the first or the last to officially cancel fall sports. The reality is that it looks increasingly likely that college football season will at least be postponed, but it does not appear that Emmert has been front and center in those discussions at any point.
