Ellington

President Mark Emmert threw the UW a curveball yesterday.

At about 2 p.m., he announced that he would be leaving the university to serve as president of the NCAA — much to the surprise of UW administrators, faculty and students.

“[I had] no reservations whatsoever about taking the job, [but] great reservations about leaving the university I love,” Emmert said during an NCAA press conference yesterday. “It’s the difficult challenge of leaving one great job for another great job.”

Emmert will be departing from the UW and beginning his term as NCAA president no later than Nov. 1.

He will replace Jim Isch, who has been serving as interim president of the NCAA since former president Myles Brand passed away in September. The search began in January with almost 100 candidates. Other finalists included Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Lt. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

According to The Seattle Times, Brand was paid about $1.7 million a year, rougly twice Emmert’s current salary.

The UW Board of Regents appointed Emmert as president in 2004. He will be departing from the university despite a new five-year contract granted to him just this summer.

“We recognize that the NCAA presidency is a unique opportunity,” Board of Regents Chair Herb Simon wrote in a press release. “It is the only organization of its kind, national in scope, and, we feel, the only type of opportunity that could possibly lure Mark away from his alma mater. The nation’s gain is our loss.”

Emmert informed Simon on Monday night that he would be meeting with the NCAA to interview for the position. Leadership at the UW echoed the sentiment that his decision to leave the university came as a surprise.

“I think we’re all sad that he’s leaving,” Provost Phyllis Wise said. “He’s done such a fabulous job here. I think we all wish him the very, very best, and I think we have a great team here and we’ll continue to do the really important things that we’re doing, many of which he got started.”

Emmert, 57, graduated from the UW in 1975 with a degree in political science. Six years ago, he left Louisiana State University to return to his alma mater as president. During his time in office, he created the need-based Husky Promise scholarship program, which now supports about 7,000 UW students. Under his leadership, Campaign UW: Creating Futures, a private fundraising drive, raised $2.68 billion for the university, about $180 million more than the initial target.

ASUW President Tim Mensing said Emmert’s example has set high expectations for his successor.

“The UW is considered one of the ‘public ivies,’ and we need someone who understands that and is driven to push the envelope every day as we are now,” he said. “We expect nothing less.”

The Board of Regents will appoint an interim president upon Emmert’s departure this fall and will lead a search committee for a new president.

“Rest assured, [the new president] is going to be one that has a sense of accomplishment that President Emmert has had over the last five to six years,” Simon said.

Development Editor Andrew Doughman contributed to this story. Reach reporter Joanna Nolasco and Development Editor Andrew Doughman at news@dailyuw.com.