From the Department of Wishful Thinking

Speaking at a tribute to the late Myles Brand, Michael Adams said he said he expects a university president to be chosen to head the NCAA--but not him. In the widely carried story, Adams is coy about being a candidate for the job: ''It's a compliment to the university,'' Adams said. ''We're Georgians. We love it here. My family is happy here, and if the Regents will let me stay, I expect to be here. Is that clear enough?"

It is decidedly not a Shermanesque statement. And that preserves hope. Back in October Adams resigned as chair of the NCAA executive committee. Adams has always been more of a command-and-control aggregation of power type than one to voluntarily abdicate it, so it was widely speculated he stepped down in order to be a candidate to replace Myles Brand--and to avoid all the Dick Cheney jokes. Adams was replaced by Oregon State's president as chair of the search committee.

[Photo: AP/John Amis] pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but the non-denial from Adams may be nothing more than faux-modesty. Adams seems dialed in to the details, so he may have intel on where the committee is headed. ''It will be a broad, open search,'' Adams said, ''but I think Myles proved that it's a good job for a university president and it's good for the NCAA to have the university president. I would not want to say that exclusively, but I think there's a built-in presumption that's likely.''

I would assume the next NCAA president will be in place by this summer, in time for the 2010-2011 athletics year. If he needs recommendations, there will be no shortage of heartfelt endorsements of Adams' candidacy for NCAA President.