NCAA’s Charlie Baker on volleyball: “One of the hottest sports in collegiate athletics”

Charlie Baker wasn’t necessarily a volleyball fan. 

But now?

“I have become one,” Baker replied.

Which is a good thing for college volleyball, since Baker is the new NCAA president.

We visited with Baker in Tampa last Sunday morning before the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship final.

“There are three things that I think are special about it,” Baker said. “The first thing is the quality of the athleticism is purely spectacular. The nature of the game, whether you’re in person or watching it on TV, point by point it’s incredibly fun to watch. And the third thing is there’s a whole series of rules changes that the volleyball community made over the course of 10 to 12 years that really sped up and I would argue dramatically enhanced the competition of the game.

“You put all that together and I think it’s one of the hottest sports in collegiate athletics.”

Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, was hired by the NCAA last December 15 as his last term finished. He took over at the NCAA on March 1. The issues that he has to deal with on so many fronts are well documented, from paying athletes to NIL to continuing conference alignment.

But we kept our conversation primarily about volleyball. It was a fortuitous time to talk with him, at the end of what has been a most remarkable college season with both attendance and TV-ratings records falling daily. 

“The sport itself is just going to continue to grow,” Baker said. “Volleyball has tremendous upside because it’s grown very fast. Part of the reason why I think it has a really high ceiling is because it’s nowhere near where it can get to just in terms of the audience that’s available to it.”

Next season, with Texas and Oklahoma going to the SEC; Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA going to the Big Ten; and Stanford and Cal going to ACC, we will be left with a Power 4 with the demise of the Pac-12. 

What happens to prominent volleyball programs not in those conferences, including Creighton and Marquette of the Big East, Western Kentucky of Conference USA and Dayton of the Atlantic 10?

Should there be a split of levels, like FBS and FCS in football, for Olympic sports?

“It’s not something people are talking about, at least not with me,” Baker said.

We asked about the future of the NCAA Tournament, both in terms of TV revenue and sponsorship.

“Keep…