This week we hosted our annual meetings in Washington, our biggest event of the year.
The meetings are the largest gathering of FBS ADs nationwide. We hosted close to 100 of our athletics directors this week.
At our meetings, we discussed the most timely and relevant issues in college sports.
We discussed amateurism in light of the current Alston case. We also discussed the Rice Commission and recent NCAA basketball rules changes, sports betting, and the future of college sports, which was a lively discussion that was moderated by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Jack Ford.
Former NFL Commissioner and Knight Commission member Paul Tagliabue spoke to our ADs about the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) and ways to use sports to bring people together to promote understanding, respect and equality.
U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke to our group about the NCAA task force formed by the CBC and gave insight into college sports issues in which the Black Caucus has interest.
We honored Bill Byrne, former athletics director at Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oregon, with the Homer Rice Award, which is presented annually to an FBS athletics director who has made significant contributions to intercollegiate athletics.
We also honored Congressional staff members who are former student-athletes in our Top 25 Student-Athletes on The Hill contest.
All in all, with all the craziness in Washington, it was a very good meeting.
