Mark Emmert to Step Down as President of N.C.A.A.

Mark Emmert, the president of the N.C.A.A., said Tuesday that he would step next down year, setting a timetable for the end of a reign that has been among the most tumultuous in the history of college sports.

The association said in a statement that Emmert’s departure was by “mutual agreement” with its Board of Governors, which has been meeting this week.

The board extended Emmert’s contract last year, a decision that drew widespread criticism in the college sports industry, through 2025.

“With the significant transitions underway within college sports, the timing of this decision provides the association with consistent leadership during the coming months plus the opportunity to consider what will be the future role of the president,” John J. DeGioia, the board’s chairman and Georgetown’s president, said in a statement. “It also allows for the selection and recruitment of the next president without disruption.”

Emmert, a former president of the University of Washington, has been atop the N.C.A.A. since 2010. Although the association has grown in financial might, it has also been rocked by legal defeats — including a unanimous loss before the Supreme Court last year in a case about the association’s limits on benefits for players — and swelling pressure from statehouses, which last year forced the N.C.A.A.’s hand to open the door to athletes making money off their fame.

The N.C.A.A. said in its statement that Emmert would serve until a new president was selected or until June 30, 2023.