We usually think of the NCAA in these parts as a "faceless bureaucracy," but in reality Myles Brand was a perfectly respectable face for our favorite non-profit monolith for six years: The former philosophy professor made good on his academic mandate by instituting the Academic Progress Rate, expanded the Association's financial base and corporate/media scope and had nothing whatsoever to do with the BCS. If nothing else, the man had the guts to fire Bob Knight and stand down 3,000 pro-Knight protestors at his house as president of Indiana, which automatically puts him in the "Steel Spine" wing of the University President Hall of Fame.
Brand went out today, a victim of the pancreatic cancer that had clearly taken a toll during his increasingly rare public appearances over the last year. Condolences.
