BOSTON — Growing up in suburban Boston in the 1960s, Charlie Baker learned his first political lesson — the art of listening to competing viewpoints — at the dinner table as his Democratic mother and Republican father debated the issues of the day.
There was a reason why he got two ears and one mouth, his mother told him.
It's a story Baker told repeatedly as governor of Massachusetts, and one that offers lessons for his job as president of the NCAA — the nation's largest sports governing body that oversees some 500,000 athletes at more than 1,100 schools.
Earlier this month, the 6-foot-4 former Harvard basketball player outlined a vision for a new NCAA subdivision at the top of college sports in a letter he sent to the more than 350 Division I schools. It was in part an effort to address one of the toughest issues facing the NCAA: how to best compensate college athletes.
Baker said his proposal would require schools that want to be part of the new tier to commit to paying athletes tens of thousands of dollars a year through a trust fund. He also proposed that all Division I schools introduce name, image and likeness compensation for their athletes internally through group licensing and remove restrictions on the educational benefits schools can offer their players.
“Some people will say you're going too far and people will say, but you're not going far enough,” Baker said.
It's part of a larger effort by the 67-year-old to convince lawmakers in Washington that the NCAA is trying to get ahead of its legal troubles as it faces antitrust challenges that could usher in a new reality in which some athletes are treated as paid. staff. Coming to terms with that future is one reason the NCAA hired Baker.
Linda Livingstone, president of Baylor University and chair of the NCAA board of directors, said Baker's history as governor and his stint as former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care demonstrated his ability to listen, learn and adapt to fit.
“In both roles as governor and health care CEO, he found himself in very complex environments and working to solve some pretty difficult, seemingly intractable problems,” said Livingstone, who was part of the team that hired Baker. She said the fact that Baker did not come from the world of academia or athletics was another plus.
What the NCAA needs most from Baker is help finding a model that will bring more stability to athletics. Livingstone said this model should offer athletes compensation but not designate them as employees.
“We're all working with Charlie as we develop these ideas together,” she said.
For Baker, navigating potentially choppy political waters was a skill he honed as a Republican in Democratic Massachusetts, adapting to a sometimes icy political environment by making as many allies as possible and choosing his battles carefully.
It was a lesson he learned in part during his first run for governor against Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick in 2010. During the race, Baker came across as too conservative and a sore loser, said Erin O'Brien, an associate professor of political science at the university. University of Massachusetts-Boston.
“Four years later he acted like someone who was more bipartisan and sympathetic, and I think that helped him,” O'Brien said. “He showed that he could learn and change course.”
Although sometimes at odds with some unions, Baker developed a public “bromance” with then-Democratic Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a former labor lawyer and current director of the National Hockey League Players' Association.
'He's used to a semi-hostile environment. He's used to working with people who aren't quite sure of him,” O'Brien said. “As governor, he could go along with Democratic leaders with some minor changes. With the NCAA, member schools will not be satisfied with the status quo. He has to be more of a doer.”
Michael McCann, a law professor and director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire, said Baker seems well suited for a nearly impossible job.
“He has the right background for what the NCAA needs to do, which is to refocus itself,” McCann said. “He is pragmatic, grounded in reality and understands the importance of closing deals.”
During his eight years as governor, Baker faced a slew of challenges, from battling snowstorms to trying to fix a faltering public transportation system to leading the state through the pandemic. He also angered former President Donald Trump by refusing to endorse or vote for him in 2016 and 2020.
One issue that irritated Baker during his time in office was the state of public transportation in metropolitan Boston. Baker poured billions into replacing tracks, repairing signals and modernizing electrical systems as officials dealt with runaway trains, subways belching smoke and rush-hour trains running on weekend schedules.
At times the system seemed beyond repair, much like the NCAA. McCann said the organization has tried to cling to a model that doesn't resonate with the public: the idea that athletes at top colleges are amateur athletes, even though college sports rake in billions every year.
Baker will have to shift schools to a new model, McCann said.
“It's a big undertaking and he knew that. I don't know if there is a right person for the job because it is so challenging,” he said. “The open question is whether it is too late for the NCAA.”
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football