BCS Begins Staffing Up
The BCS (or whatever it will soon be called) has announced they have Reid Sigmon, Senior Associate AD and Chief Operating Officer for Kansas State Athletics, as Chief Financial Officer. This is in addition to Bill Hancock as executive director (longtime mouthpiece for the BCS) and Michael Kelly, formerly Senior Associate Commissioner of the ACC as Chief Operating Officer.
The change from the BCS being a shadow organization that just collected the money and released the polls into a real operation with an office and staff was referenced by Dennis Dodd in his piece about the increasingly thin ice many believe the NCAA is on. The BCS is attracting some talented people, highly placed in major athletic departments and conferences. These are individuals who might have been in line to become a conference commissioner, athletic director, or high ranking NCAA official.
But as long as the BCS shows no desire to be a governing body, it is not a real threat to the NCAA. If the BCS were to hire a head of governance or rules expert, the NCAA should take notice.
And if the BCS ever passes any rules you might find in the NCAA Manual, even if they do not conflict, the NCAA should get worried. An example might be if football coaches continue to complain about unlimited phone calls and convince the BCS to enact and enforce recruiting limits. If the BCS did it well (i.e. to the satisfaction of BCS members), then the NCAA might have the beginning of a real competitor.
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