Former Gov. Olson: NCAA is 'flawed'

GRAND FORKS - Today was to be the day - the come-to-meeting, lay-your-cards-on-the-table day.

With the University of North Dakota facing an Aug. 15 deadline to retire its Fighting Sioux nickname and comply with terms of a settlement agreement with the NCAA - and facing a contrary order by the state, effective Aug. 1, to retain the nickname and Indian head logo - university officials and other parties were hoping to gain some clarity today.

The governor and legislative leaders, the president of the university, the leaders of the state Board of Higher Education and others had been invited to the meeting in Bismarck. The president and vice president of the NCAA were to be there.

The agenda was to revolve around one question: Where do we stand now? Or, is there any wiggle room in the NCAA's position concerning UND's nickname and logo, considering all that's changed in the landscape since the 2007 agreement?

But the NCAA leaders, perhaps made uncomfortable by the prospect of an open meeting monitored by the public and media, sent their regrets last week.

Then, in response to a written query from UND President Robert Kelley, the NCAA said it believes the matter is settled: As of Aug. 15, UND will face sanctions. UND's conflicting marching orders from the state board and the Legislature are a state issue.

To one former North Dakota leader, long involved in the tussle over the nickname, blame for the standoff goes largely to the NCAA.

Allen Olson served two terms as North Dakota attorney general before he was elected governor in 1980. In the early 1990s, former UND President Charles Kupchella asked him to serve on an advisory committee concerning the nickname, and last year Kelley named Olson to his nickname "transition cabinet," to help guide a respectful retirement of the popular name and logo.

"What bothers me the most about this ... I see the politics of it," Olson said.

"Setting aside the emotions of the Native American and non-native relationships of this issue, it was an easy way for the NCAA to offset the legitimate criticisms they had received for years about the extraordinary amounts of money involved in collegiate sports," he said. "It seemed to me it was an easy way for the NCAA to use a serious and significant issue that deserved serious attention but turn it to their advantage and use their monopoly power" to force a change.

"I wish I had more respect for the NCAA," Olson said. "It is a flawed organization."

Citing NCAA controversies over money in collegiate sports and other matters, Olson said the association "certainly (has) been humbled. In the past few years, they've been forced to feel the heat over some irrational policies.

"My sense is (the campaign against member schools' use of American Indian names and logos) was a way to respond to the academic intelligentsia critics on NCAA member campuses where they were under continuous criticism," he said. "It was a convenient and easy way for them to claim credibility."

Chuck Haga writes for the Grand Forks Herald