Brand, former IU president, dies

Myles Brand, the 16th president of Indiana University, has died at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer, according to the NCAA.

Brand served as IU's president from 1994 to 2002. After leaving IU, he served as the president of the NCAA.

UAB coach and former IU men’s basketball coach Mike Davis replaced Knight in 2000.

 “I was very sad to hear about the passing of Myles Brand,” Davis said. “He was a great man.”

IU men's soccer coach Mike Freitag was an assistant while Brand was president. He said even though Brand was president of the NCAA, he was also respected by people outside of athletics.

“I think he’s a man who had a vision about what the university was about, about academics,"  Freitag said. "He knew athletics was important to IU. He tried to make the commitment to both and was a gentleman who stood up to his word. He was a gentleman who gave his heart and soul. We’re saddened by his passing, but we’re fortunate to have him for the years we did."

Brand was the first former college president to become president of the NCAA.

IU women's tennis coach Lin Loring said Brand's resume gave him and the NCAA more credibility among other college presidents.

"I think college presidents have always been a little leery of college athletics and the NCAA," Loring said. "When one of their own became president, I think it really helped as far as the intuition of the NCAA."

Board of Trustees member Patrick Shoulders said Brand's influence can still be seen, as the university recently released grants for information technology. While Brand was criticized for firing former IU men's basketball coach Bob Knight, Shoulders said his academic initiatives will also be remembered.

"His contributions to IU will transcend that," Shoulders said.

IU awarded Brand a Doctorate of Humane Letters degree during a IU Honors Convocation on March 29 at IU.

Following news of his death, the NCAA directed visitors to its Web site to a special site devoted to remembering Brand.

This story will be updated.