NC A&T AD Removed

I caught this first through the Business Journal, it’s also on the News & Record.

Dee Todd, the first black female Athletic Director at any University is being reassigned by the Chancellor. (Her Bio Page is still up at NC A&T.) Ms. Todd is a very pleasant person; but unfortunately, athletics is a BIG BUSINESS at any major college or university. She is apparently the victim of losing football and basketball teams over the past few years.

NC A&T is not suffering for bad leadership; but the fact that a lot of bigger schools have reduced their academic standards for athletes. Back in the 1980’s, I worked at Winston-Salem State University; Big House Gaines would lament on how the big schools were grabbing all the talent. Players who would not be accepted as students were being grabbed as athletes. The only problem was that the players were not getting the education that they would have received at a smaller school. At the larger schools, athletes are commodities, used to obtain financial contributions. If they are lucky, they may get a professional contract. If they are well-grounded, they may even receive an education.

I hope that Chancellor Battle can find the right person to help the student-athletes first and their winning records later.