Charlie Baker says faculty sports can assist colleges navigate declining enrollment and monetary pressure.
Speaking in Boston on Thursday, the former Massachusetts governor and present president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association linked athletic success to elevated visibility and pupil curiosity, whereas acknowledging broader structural challenges affecting colleges and universities nationwide.
Asked about the salaries of University of Massachusetts coaches — which commonly place amongst the highest for public staff in the state — Baker mentioned these selections are made at the campus stage, however added that athletics can contribute to an institutional identification.
“[Coach pay] is a decision for the chancellor and the board,” Baker informed reporters, after talking to the Boston College Chief Executives Club. “I do believe that sports can play a big role in creating brand.”
He continued, “When the UMass hockey team won the national championship a few years ago, it created — I remember talking to Chancellor Subbaswamy at that time, and he said it really bumped our admissions in a pretty big way.”
Baker mentioned related patterns have performed out at different establishments, the place high-profile athletic success can result in elevated curiosity from potential college students.
“I actually think part of the reason people are spending money on sports, in many cases, is because sports build brand and brand matters,” he mentioned.
“If you look at the things that some schools have done with their athletic programs to create brand and visibility and applications,” he mentioned, “High Point, they beat Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA tournament. They got 19,000 requests the next day for student business.”
His feedback come as greater training establishments face a number of pressures, together with declining numbers of college-aged college students, shifting perceptions about the worth of a level, and rising competitors from different training pathways.
“The biggest challenge everybody in higher education is going to have is there just aren’t as many kids as there used to be,” Baker mentioned. “My oldest, who’s now 34, was part of the largest group of 18 year olds ever. And that number has been going down every year since then, and it’s expected to keep going down for a long time.”
He identified that on-line studying choices and different nontraditional pathways have expanded lately, contributing to adjustments in how college students strategy greater training.
“There’s also been a fair amount of conversation about what’s the plus-minus of a college education relative to choosing other paths?” Baker mentioned. “The online opportunities around education are far bigger than they’ve ever been.”
Baker mentioned establishments ought to assess their strengths and focus sources accordingly, together with selections about athletics applications.
“There are a bunch of schools that leverage their success in athletics to serve their academic mission in extraordinary ways,” he mentioned. “I think every school is different. I think people need to think real hard about what they think they can be great at, whatever it might be, and then they need to focus on that.”
Though now talking as the head of faculty athletics, Baker’s expertise can also be knowledgeable by overseeing greater training points as governor.
He held that workplace throughout an period when a number of small personal colleges in Massachusetts closed or confronted monetary misery. The 2018 closure of Mount Ida College drew statewide consideration, and the development has continued. This month Hampshire College introduced plans to shut, highlighting ongoing challenges for smaller establishments.
Baker additionally addressed the regulatory atmosphere surrounding faculty athletics, pointing to the want for clearer guidelines.
“If I could have one thing … it would probably be some narrow provision that would make it possible for us to put rules in place that could stick,” he mentioned, responding to a query about regulatory or legislative adjustments he would search from Congress in an excellent world.
“And when I say that, I mean things like academic eligibility period. We have all kinds of folks trying to get a sixth, seventh and eighth year. They don’t get it from us, and then they go get it from the judge who graduated from their school. No offense to judges,” he mentioned.
Baker mentioned adjustments might assist create “certainty and stability.”
“A lot of the stuff I would look for is not that dramatic,” he mentioned, “but it would make a huge difference with respect to creating certainty and stability, which are two things I know higher ed folks care about a lot.”