[Tuck4Bama]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- NCAA president Myles Brand, who while leading Indiana University president fired basketball coach Bob Knight, died Wednesday afternoon from pancreatic cancer. He was 67.

As the first former university president ever to run college sports' largest governing body, Brand worked to change the perception that wins supersede academics in college sports.

He broke the news that he had cancer in January at the NCAA convention and continued to run the organization's day-to-day operations, despite undergoing treatment. The NCAA announced his death. Officials were not ready to announce who would replace Brand or when they may begin searching for a successor.

Brand gained national attention in May 2000 when he put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy after a former player alleged the hugely successful but hot-headed coach had choked him during a practice years earlier.
Four months after that announcement, freshman Kent Harvey accused Knight of grabbing him, and Brand did what fans considered unthinkable -- firing the coach who won three national championships in Bloomington.

"That was a very difficult time for Myles, and I know he worked extremely hard to resolve those matters in a very, very different way. The way it ended up was not the way he wanted it to end," Terry Clapacs, a longtime university administrator who worked closely with Brand in the 1990s, said when Brand received an award in June. "But at some point, you have to make a decision that is tough for the university and he did that."

Students protested, gathering in front of Brand's home even hanging Brand in effigy, but his decision gave Brand a platform to address the problems he saw in college sports.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/ncaa/09/16/brand/index.html?eref=si_ncaaf#ixzz0RJHTChII

[nascaraddict]

Yeah. I saw that he had died of Panceatic Cancer. This is what claimed the life of my dad back in March of 2007.

[Tuck4Bama]

Originally Posted by nascaraddict

Yeah. I saw that he had died of Panceatic Cancer. This is what claimed the life of my dad back in March of 2007.

Sorry to hear about your dad.

[Quack Attack]

Myles Brand was former President of University of Oregon and was famous for his firing of one of my favorite basketball coaches Bobby Knight. I remember him very well. He was also former chairman of the NCAA BCS committee. I was always angry at him for his stance against the playoff system I have always so wanted in NCAA football.

Hey, this guy was a huge supporter and lover of NCAA football and sorry to see this guy go. I have lost two very close relatives to cancer in the last 4 years. I think he meant well in all his decisions concerning football although I didn't always agree with him.