@1QLeadership Question: How can university presidents creatively lead conference realignment while protecting academic priorities and strengthening institutional and league stability for the long term?
Dr. John R. Porter of Lindenwood University, and Dr. Yancy Freeman of University of Tennessee Martin, explore how university presidents balance athletics and academics. The two CEO’s discuss leading through conference realignment challenges in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). They also cover using creative, business-minded strategy to stabilize and grow their respective institutions.
Presidents’ role in athletics
The guests explain that athletics is often the most visible and attention grabbing part of a university, driving applications, enrollment, school pride, donations, and media exposure, which forces presidents to devote significant time and strategic focus to sports. They emphasize that athletics must enhance the academic mission, not overshadow it, so they deliberately balance funding and messaging between academic priorities and athletic success.
Stabilizing the Ohio Valley Conference
When member schools left or considered leaving, the Board of Presidents responded with unusually candid, frequent conversations to reaffirm commitment, increase exit fees, and engage consultants to craft a long term strategy and structure for the conference. They describe this moment of “friction” as ultimately positive, creating tighter relationships among presidents, clearer shared vision, and a more intentional search for a new commissioner who can elevate the OVC.
Creativity, strategy, and leadership style
Dr. Porter applies business discipline and growth thinking—like building a multi-entity education system and treating Lindenwood as an enterprise—to drive execution, revenue growth, and investment capacity that can support both academics and athletics. Dr. Freeman focuses on strategic planning rooted in enrollment management and student experience, contributing an outcome-driven approach to conference strategy and to aligning athletics with campus-wide priorities.
-Tai M. Brown – One Question Leadership Podcast