New U of M president talks conference realignment, NCAA sanctions
The University of Memphis’ new president Bill Hardgrave understands the power of sports. (Karen Pulfer Focht/The Daily Memphian file)
New University of Memphis president Bill Hardgrave understands the power of sports.
The Arkansas native grew up rooting for the Razorbacks.
For more from Hardgrove’s discussion with The Daily Memphian:
U of M’s new president outlines his vision for the university
College basketball is his favorite sport and you could understand why as the Razorbacks became a national power under coaches Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson while he was growing up.
He understands the impact sports can have on the community and also understands how passionate Memphis is about the Tigers basketball team.
“I’ve witnessed that. I think that’s great the community embraces the team like it does,” Hardgrave said.
Hardgrave begins his tenure as the leader of Memphis at a critical point for the athletics program. The push to join the ranks of the Power Five conferences and the Independent Accountability Resolution Process investigation (IARP) of the basketball program loom.
On his second day on the job Hardgrave sat down with a pool of The Daily Memphian reporters to talk about a variety of topics.
Here’s how it went.
On conference realignment
“I wish I could confidently say what conferences look like in the NCAA or what the NCAA looks like in even three to four to five years from now. I don’t know that anybody knows. What we do know with the conference realignment is shaking out to be a handful of conferences that wield all the power financially,” Hardgrave said.
Hardgrave previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Auburn. Being in the SEC made him keenly aware of the differences between respective conferences.
“You can see what happens when you’re in those conferences where the media revenue is a big part of what you’re able to do. There’s certainly some advantages there. I don’t know what that looks like. What I want to do is position the university to be the very best and be in the very best conference we can. I wish I knew what that looked like or will we even be talking about a Power Five in three years or is it going to be the Power Two or Power Three? Or is it going to be a whole new situation?” Hardgrave wondered.
Regardless of how the landscape changes, the objective will remain the same.
“I do know that we need to position ourselves to be the very best athletic program we can.”
The future of the Liberty Bowl
“I know that there is a lot of talk about that. I know there are going to be some decisions that have to be made and those are made for a variety of reasons including financial and what it means to the university. How that positions you to be a major player, so that is a big decision that has to be made,” Hardgrave said.
“And I think it has to be made in the coming months. From what I can tell, it’s been talked about for a very long time, but I think that decision is coming to a head from what I understand.”
IARP investigating involving Memphis basketball
“The only thing I can offer up at this point is that I’ll remind everybody that these are allegations that are not yet resolved and beyond that I can’t really talk about it,” Hardgrave said.
The IARP is an independent investigative body that has leveled allegations of impropriety at the Memphis basketball team, which the university has strongly denied.
How name, image and likeness changes things
“With what’s going on both from a legislative side from NIL, the changes we’ve seen in the NCAA — I’ve been a follower of college sports for a very long time — I haven’t seen anything come close to this. In fact my reference point is what happened to SMU back in the day,” Hardgrave said.
Hardgrave was alluding to when SMU received the “death penalty” for NCAA violations and was forced to cancel the 1987 football season.
“And now we fast forward three or four decades and we’re talking about really allowing the things that kind of got them in trouble a long time ago. I think it’s going to fundamentally change (the NCAA). I saw a quote from a president of a major university this morning and it said we will professionalize college sports in the next few years. I don’t know if this person is wrong,” Hardgrave said.
A group of Memphis supporters just launched the 901 fund last week to help Memphis basketball and football players find NIL deals with local charities. Alex Lomax and DeAndre Williams are among the notable names to have signed deals.
Funds like that are only going to become more common as we get deeper into the NIL era and are just one example of the professionalization of the college game.
“I don’t know what that looks like, I don’t know what that means for us a university. Is it going to be better off or worse off financially? What does the conference realignment mean to all that? What does it mean when you depend on your alumni and friends to support a program and now they’re supporting other agencies that support the athletes, I wish I knew what it looked like,” Hardgrave said.
“I think the only thing I’m safe with saying at this point is college sports as we know it is shifting and will be fundamentally different in just a few years than it was a few years ago,” he said.
Topics
NCAA IARP University of Memphis Bill Hardgrave Liberty Bowl Memorial StadiumSteven Johnson
Johnson is a Memphis native who graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2016. He's traveled the country covering teams like Syracuse, the Buffalo Bills and the Memphis Grizzlies. He's excited about the opportunity to cover the Tigers and all things in the city of Memphis.
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