USOC tabs Tagliabue to lead committee examining board structure

The man who turned the NFL into the country’s most popular professional sports league will lead a team charged with determining whether the U.S. Olympic Committee’s much-criticized, highly secretive policy-setting panel needs an overhaul.

Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was tabbed Thursday to head an independent committee that will study the size, structure and operating practices of the USOC’s nine-person board. The committee, with an unspecified number of members who haven’t been selected, might make recommendations to the board, which must pass any changes.

On a Wednesday conference call, the board also approved a resolution to publish meeting agendas before each quarterly gathering, and the board agreed to share meeting minutes with constituent groups and post the minutes on the USOC’s Web site, www.teamusa.org. The board meetings are closed to the media. The next one is Dec. 14 in San Francisco.

The board’s last face-lift came in 2003, when management chaos at the USOC and threats of Congressional control prompted the USOC to reduce its board from 123 members and eliminate a 22-person executive committee. All board members aren’t paid — Stephanie Streeter left her seat in March to become acting chief executive officer.

Chances are Tagliabue’s group won’t offer a to-do list until the USOC completes a search for Streeter’s replacement. USOC board member Bob Bowlsby is directing a nine-person search committee that plans to have a new CEO hired by the end of the year. Streeter will stay in her position through the Paralympics in Vancouver, which end March 21.

“I believe that Paul is the ideal person to lead this committee, and the board is confident that the independent review panel will conduct a comprehensive and discerning analysis,” USOC chairman Larry Probst said in a statement.

In the same statement, Tagliabue said he believes that “the opportunity to collaborate in this vitally important project with others committed to the Olympic tradition will be very positive and constructive. … It is a privilege to serve the USOC and its stakeholders.”