The College Sports Commission announced Tuesday that it had hired Kenny Thompson Jr., a Democratic National Committee official and veteran of the Obama White House, as its new head of strategic communications and external affairs.
Thompson’s appointment comes at a politically consequential moment for the CSC, which has spent its early life navigating scrutiny from Congress, antitrust plaintiffs and college athlete advocates. With current polling suggesting Democrats are favored to regain control of the House of Representatives—and have at least an outside chance of flipping the Senate—the commission is potentially seeking to cover its political bases.
Charlie Baker, the NCAA president, is the former Republican governor of Massachusetts.
During the Obama administration, Thompson served as director of message events for then-Vice President Joe Biden, as well as senior advisor to the United State Trade Representative, and special assistant and advance lead for the president. Biden, upon assuming the Oval Office, later appointed Thompson to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.
In a 2020 interview with Politico, Thompson spoke about how the COVID-19 pandemic had “bought into focus the disproportionate negative effect of public policy on Black Americans.” He now takes a leading communications role of an organization that has become a focal point of criticism that the post-House v. NCAA enforcement system continues to suppress compensation for the predominantly Black athletes who generate much of the industry’s revenue.
