The University of North Carolina's new interim chancellor said it is important that the Tar Heels' athletic department ends up "better off" when the current period of college sports instability concludes.
Lee Roberts was named interim chancellor at UNC on Friday. He will replace outgoing Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, who is leaving to become president at Michigan State.
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Roberts, a Duke graduate, is a former North Carolina state budget director and current member of the UNC Board of Governors.
"It's a moment of extreme flux for college sports, possibly the greatest moment of instability that we've seen in a long time," Roberts said in an interview with WRAL. "It's going to be important for the leadership at Carolina, not just me but everyone involved, to make sure that when the dust settles Carolina's better off."
ACC uncertainty
The NCAA faces an array of challenges, including a handful of court cases that could lead to employment status for some athletes. A federal judge ruled Wednesday, in a case brought in part by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, that the NCAA could not enforce its rules on athletes who transfer more than once, such as UNC wide receiver Tez Walker.
Name, image and likeness payments, looser transfer rules and extended eligibility due to COVID have created a free agency-like environment for college athletics.
Leagues at the highest level of college athletics will undergo a radical transformation next year with the SEC and Big Ten adding top brands to their already strong leagues driven by enormous media rights contracts that are pushing the SEC and Big Ten well past their peer conferences.
The Big 12 and the North Carolina-based ACC are picking up remnants of the now diluted Pac-12. The ACC voted in September to expand west with the additions of Cal, SMU and Stanford. UNC voted no, along with Clemson and Florida State.
UNC is a charter member of the ACC and shares the league with rivals NC State, Duke and Virginia. But it was among a cluster of ACC schools the explored ways to get out of the league's "grant of rights" agreement that binds the conference together through 2036.
UNC is considered a top expansion candidate for both the Big Ten and the SEC. The leagues are expected to dominate spots in the sport's 12-team playoff that begins in 2024.
When asked if UNC should remain in the ACC, Roberts deferred.
"We need to look hard at the way college sports are reshaping themselves," he said. "There couldn't be more instability in college sports generally. Our responsibility as leaders who care about the institution and care about the state is to make sure when the dust settles, Carolina is better off."
More oversight on athletics
Guskiewicz cast the vote against expansion for UNC after members of the school's Board of Trustees publicly called for a no vote. He also was involved in UNC's effort to get a waiver for Walker.
Roberts said he expects athletics to take up plenty of his attention as well.
"It's going to take a lot of time from the interim chancellor and for whoever is the permanent chancellor," Roberts told WRAL. "I think it's taken a lot of Kevin's time. I think it will continue to take a lot of time."
Roberts was appointed to the UNC System Board of Governors by Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County. He worked under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. UNC System President Peter Hans appointed Roberts as interim chancellor.
The Board of Governors is considering a proposal to take a larger role in athletic conference affiliation decisions. A proposal that was heard in committee in October would require schools to provide notice of and a financial plan for "any agreement which would result in the constituent institution transferring, leaving, or joining an athletic conference."
The item was for discussion only at the October meeting.
It would allow the UNC System President "the opportunity to weigh in on the potential impacts of the agreement."
The UNC System consists of 16 public schools, including UNC and NC State.