Leaving his 'Brand' on collegiate sports.

OK, so two posts, two violations of the blog's title. Today's subject didn't die yesterday, but today. One of these days I'll get it right.

Today we mark the passing of NCAA president Myles Brand, who passed away today of pancreatic cancer at age 67. While he made great strides toward cleaning up the image of college athletics (not that there aren't decades of bad publicity still to atone for...), his most lasting legacy may be that of "the man who fired Bobby Knight", while President of Indiana University, from 1994 to 2002.

Knight's outrageous antics on the college basketball sidelines provided highlight reel material for decades. After the 2000 firing, Knight supporters burned Brand, in effigy, outside Brand's home, the Bryan House, to protest.

One of Brand's most notable, and possibly controversial, moves as NCAA president was the decision not to hold championships on the campuses of institutions who use nicknames representing (positively or otherwise) American Indians.

Brand was also the president of the University of Oregon from 1989 to 1994.

Let's all join Bobby Knight in tossing a plastic chair across our local basketball courts, in honor of a great collegiate sports administrator.

Myles Brand 1942 - 2009