THE SECRET'S OUT: Brand leaving IU

The man who fired Bob Knight and advocated academics over athletics is set to run the nation's college sports machine.\nYesterday in a surprising announcement, the NCAA unanimously named Myles Brand its president-elect. His five-year contract begins on the first day of the new year. Brand's new position will force him to resign IU's top job.\nBrand's acceptance of this position leaves a void in IU's highest leadership position. Just hours after his resignation, the board of trustees announced that they will hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today to discuss IU's administrative future.\nBrand said the process happened quickly. The new NCAA president barely had time to personally inform the IU board of trustees before announcing his resignation.\n"Well, at first it was a very difficult decision, and when I finish in December, it will be with great regret," Brand said late Thursday night from Indianapolis. "I enjoyed working with the faculty, the administrative staff and the students at IU. This is an opportunity to have an impact on a national level. It's an opportunity I could not pass by."\nOne of three finalists interviewed early Thursday afternoon, Brand was unanimously voted to the position by early evening.\nHe becomes the fourth president in the history of the association, and follows Cedric Dempsey into office. Dempsey announced his retirement from the position, where he spent eight years. The NCAA Executive Committee started its seven-month search for a new president soon after Dempsey's announcement that he would leave.\nThe committee accepted 118 nominations for possible candidates, before narrowing the field to 11 finalists in September.\nThe group cut the finalists to three and the subsequent announcement of an appointee took only a short time.\n"My understanding is that has developed fairly recently," IU spokesman Bill Stephan said. "He was contacted by the NCAA officials whether he might be interested. This was an extraordinary opportunity on a national scale. He will take on the responsibility that will go along with the job."\nThis announcement came as a surprise to many at IU as well. Because of the nomination and voting process that the NCAA follows, the screening process is kept under wraps.\nIn this case, the time period between an offer and an acceptance was short.\n"From the beginning it was an important consideration to not at all speak about the candidates," IU Athletics Director Michael McNeely said. "I'm not surprised, because it is a very prestigious role. It provides great opportunity and great challenges."\nBrand, 60, has been IU's president since 1994, but arguably will be best remembered for imposing a "zero tolerance" policy on former men's basketball coach Bob Knight. Brand later fired Knight for breaking the agreement.\nDuring his tenure as president, IU private donations led all public universities, and Time magazine named IU "College of the Year" among research universities in September 2001. Brand also helped unify the IU Medical Center Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children with Methodist Hospital to form Clarian Health.\nIU also enjoyed record enrollment numbers under Brand.\n"I personally can attest through the things that the rest of student body doesn't see," said IUSA President Bill Gray. "This man has done everything in his power to better IU and help its students in any way"