NCAA President Mark Emmert made a pretty big promise to his employer in 2006.
After becoming one of the nation’s highest-paid public school presidents at the University of Washington, Emmert signed a pledge form that year to give some of his money back to the school — $100,000 to go toward a scholarship fund.
But he never followed through on that pledge, and that makes him a hypocrite, said Jay M. Glazer, a big Washington booster and philanthropist.
“The president of the university is the lead fundraiser,” said Glazer, not to be confused with the NFL analyst for Fox Sports. “We’re all expected to pay (our pledges). … Your integrity is on the line. You don’t make up phony stuff.”
Records obtained by USA TODAY Sports show $51,000 of the $100,000 pledge was paid by January 2010, but the rest of the pledge went unpaid after Emmert left UW, his alma mater, to become president of the NCAA later that year. Another person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the pledge was only half-paid, leading the university to endow the scholarship at half its planned amount.
The person requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Asked if he wanted to comment on the situation and if he planned to pay the rest of the pledge, Emmert issued a statement through a spokeswoman.
"Personal philanthropy is a private matter for individuals and their families," Emmert's statement said. "My family and I care greatly for the University of Washington and will continue to support it throughout our lives."
Glazer said the broken promise matters because university fundraising is reliant on donors fulfilling pledges and because the school president leads the charges on fundraising. Emmert served as UW’s president from 2004 to 2010. At the NCAA, he was credited with more than $1.8 million in compensation during the 2013 calendar year, according to the most recently available tax form.
Glazer also said Emmert “sets the standard” and acts “holier than thou” as the president of the NCAA, the governing body of college sports.
The organization uses an honor system among member schools to enforce its many rules. It also punishes those who act dishonestly or disregard the values of higher education. In 2012, Emmert announced harsh sanctions against Penn State because of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Emmert noted then that part of the NCAA’s mission is “to insist that athletics programs provide positive moral models for our students, enhance the integrity of higher education and promote the values of civility, honesty and responsibility.”
“If he’s going to tell 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds, that (they violated NCAA rules) because they signed an autograph or they took a supplement or they got a tattoo free, who is he to tell anybody if he doesn’t pay his own bills?” said Glazer, whose father-in-law once served as president of the university’s board of regents.
In October 2006, the university board of regents gave Emmert an annual raise of more than $100,000, increasing his compensation to more than $700,000. Less than a month later, Emmert signed his $100,000 pledge form, promising to fulfill it with five annual payments of $20,000, starting in January 2008, according to records obtained by USA TODAY Sports. The records show the last payment toward the pledge was received by January 2010. Emmert was named NCAA president in April 2010.
In April 2013, a university vice president sent a letter to Emmert, politely reminding him of his pledge and noting that a deadline was approaching in a program that would have provided matching funds for his donation.
“The good news is that your donations have totaled $51,000 toward your $100,000 pledge,” says the letter, obtained by USA TODAY Sports. “Further, the UW has held $50,000 in matching funds until June 30, 2013 (sunset date) as part of the Students First matching program that was created on your watch. … If you can see a way to contribute the remaining $49,000 by this time, the remaining matching funds will instantly be accrued to your fund. Of course, we would understand completely should this timetable be unfeasible, and I assure you we can still establish your scholarship with the $51,000 we have already received.”
The letter closes by thanking him “for the many years you have served and supported your Alma Mater. You bring the UW great pride and we feel privileged that you will be Huskies in every way, forever.”
In 2008, Emmert ranked as the second-highest-paid public university president at $905,000 per year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. He declined a pay raise that year because of looming budget cuts. Records show Emmert fulfilled a few other smaller pledges during his tenure as UW president, often through deductions from his paychecks: one for $5,000 and two for $2,500. The records also show that he donated $4,000 toward a separate fund in recent years, after he left the UW.
A recent university report to contributors lists Emmert among many donors who gave at least $100,000 to the university, including Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. But the person with knowledge of the situation said Emmert’s amount was based on his pledge, not the amount received.
It’s not unusual for university leaders to give back to their employers with donations. But it is unusual for them to welsh on their pledges, the person with knowledge of the situation said. UW’s current president, Ana Mari Cauce, was hired late last year with a five-year contract that gives her more than $900,000 in annual compensation. She announced then she would donate $500,000 to the university over the term of her contract to help students.
Follow sports reporter Brent Schrotenboer on Twitter @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
