Evan Bayh Passed Over To Head NCAA

Evan Bayh's bid to become the head of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a dream job for a Hoosier if there ever was one, failed on Tuesday. The NCAA is based in Indianapolis.

Bayh, a retiring Democratic Senator from Indiana, missed Tuesday afternoon's vote on a motion to move forward on Wall Street reform because he was meeting with top officials from the NCAA.

University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert was named Tuesday by the NCAA Executive Committee as president of the organization, the NCAA announced.

The NCAA had hoped that the chosen candidate would be available to start by the beginning of the school year, but Bayh's term lasts into January 2011.

The NCAA made the announcement at 6:00 p.m. Efforts to reach a Bayh spokesman were unsuccessful.

Bayh, often a thorn in the side of Democrats, retired amid complaints that he no longer found the Senate a collegial place to work. "I'm an executive at heart," he said when he was stepping down.