New NCAA Commissioner Charlie Baker Got The Job Because He Could Dunk

The NCAA announced on Thursday it had found its next commissioner.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will succeed the current NCAA Commissioner, Mark Allen Emmert, when Baker’s second term as Governor ends in March 2023.

Charlie Baker grew up ‘playing football, hockey, and baseball’ and later attended Harvard as a ‘c student’ where he joined the Men’s JV Basketball Team. It was that last part that might’ve landed Charlie Baker the new NCAA Commissioner’s job based on this anecdote from SportsBusinessJournal.

If that tweet isn’t loading, the excerpt from SBJ reads:

Len Perna, chairman of TurnkeyZRG, assisted the NCAA with the search. The longtime search executive explained to SBJ how he came across Baker: “I was networking around the industry. One of my calls was to Sam Kennedy, CEO of the Red Sox.

I mentioned to Sam the NCAA is looking for an executive who has four things: passionate about higher education; ran a business as CEO; was also in government; and was a student-athlete and could dunk a basketball. Sam laughed and said: ‘I think I might actually have somebody. Ever heard of Charlie Baker?’”

The NCAA’s headhunter looking for a new commissioner was obviously biased against Short Kings. It doesn’t seem unfair to say they didn’t even bother speaking with men of average height.

Another incredible aspect of this is the Red Sox somehow appear to have played a crucial role in placing the next NCAA Commissioner, a job that pays out several million dollars a year in salary.

It is also worth noting that the NCAA previously posted the job description of its new president on its website. Back in September, that NCAA President’s job description went viral long before Charlie Baker secured the bag.

College sports fans had a lot ot say back then. Most obvious was the requirement to have “experience in well-run organizations” which many believe contradicts what we’ve seen from the NCAA under Emmert.

Another poster noted the line of “setting the tone, spurring enthusiasm, challenging current wisdom, and supporting the team” saying, “Don’t worry, they finally are going to get someone to address the real issues facing the NCAA.”

The NCAA got their guy in Charlie Baker. But they made it clear that Short Kings Need Not Apply, something that surely won’t sit well with some student-athletes like coxswain and gymnasts.