NCAA president Mark Emmert will leave his post by June 2023

Mark Emmert will step down as president of the NCAA by mutual agreement with the association’s Board of Governors, the association announced Tuesday.

He will continue to serve in the position until June 2023, or when a successor is in place.

Emmert has served in the position since October 2010. That gives him the second-longest run in the job to that of Walter Byers, who headed the organization from 1951 to 1988.

In April 2021, the board had voted to extend his contract through Dec. 31, 2025. Prior to that move, the most recent action on Emmert’s contract had been to extend his deal through 2023, with an option to extend it through 2024.

Tuesday’s announcement came with the NCAA in the midst of major reorganization of its governance structure that began with the approval of a new constitution in January. The organization and its leadership also have faced criticism on an array of issues from gender equity, to its handling of rules enforcement, to athlete compensation, to its strategy in legal cases, including an antitrust case in which the Supreme Court last June ruled unanimously against the NCAA.

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"With the significant transitions underway within college sports, the timing of this decision provides the Association with consistent leadership during the coming months plus the opportunity to consider what will be the future role of the president," NCAA Board of Governors Chair John J. DeGioia, the president of Georgetown University, said in a statement. "It also allows for the selection and recruitment of the next president without disruption."

In the same statement, Emmert said: “Throughout my tenure I've emphasized the need to focus on the experience and priorities of student-athletes. I am extremely proud of the work of the Association over the last 12 years and especially pleased with the hard work and dedication of the national office staff here in Indianapolis."

Emmert was credited with just over $2.9 million in compensation during the 2019 calendar year, according the association’s most recently available federal tax records. That figure included nearly $2.5 million in base pay.

Immediately prior to moving to the NCAA, Emmert had served as president of the University of Washington. Before that, he had been Louisiana State’s chancellor from 1999 to 2004 and provost and chancellor of the University of Connecticut from 1995 to 1999.

His first 18 months with the association proved to be a foreshadowing of his tenure. He forcefully encouraged Division I schools to adopt a $2,000 stipend for athletes that they could put toward their total cost of attending school. But after initially adopting the proposal, the Division I Board of Directors faced so much opposition from the membership that it suspended the measure.

The association eventually ended up facing an antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of former UCLA men’s basketball player Ed O’Bannon that led NCAA schools to vote to allow athletes to receive scholarships that cover the full cost of attending school.

The issue of athlete compensation and rights continued to be – and remains – a thread running throug Emmert’s tenure. And, in many instances, changes that have occurred in the NCAA on Emmert’s watch have happened only with the association being forced, either by legal action or under pressure from federal and/or state legislators and agencies.

The NCAA’s engagement in concussion research was partially the result of a lawsuit. Its adoption of liberalized rules concerning athletes’ ability to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL) came in the wake of California’s passage of a law in September 2019 allowing the activity – and other states following suit – and then a letter from the Justice Department in January 2021 that not only questioned the association’s direction on NIL but also on athletes’ ability to transfer.

Along the way, Emmert and his leadership of the association frequently became a target.

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in 2014, after listening to Emmert explain that he has a limited role in NCAA rules-making that is ultimately done largely by college presidents, then-Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said: "I can't tell whether you are in charge or whether you are a minion.”

Last April, during a news conference held in connection with the Division I men’s basketball tournament, Emmert was asked: "From the people who question the NCAA's role in some of the things that have transpired, why should you be the leader of this organization?"

Emmert replied: "Whether I'm the leader or not is not up to me. That's up to the Board of Governors. They're my bosses. I work for a board that represents all the universities in all three of the divisions.

"My role is to do my job and do it to the best of my ability. And I'm very confident that I'm capable of doing that. But that's not my decision. I don't hire myself. The board does that.

“And I know there's been plenty of things that have been done poorly or misses that we've had over the years. And I'm certainly happy to take my share of responsibility for that. I don't pretend like I'm infallible, or that we've done everything perfectly, or that I've done everything perfectly. I've made plenty of mistakes and I've learned from them. But who runs the NCAA as president is not my decision."

Follow Steve Berkowitz on Twitter @ByBerkowitz

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA president Mark Emmert stepping down after 12 years