Tagliabue to chair USOC review panel

Paul Tagliabue, the former NFL commissioner, was named Thursday to head a U.S. Olympic Committee panel asked to take a look at whether a widespread USOC reform plan launched six years ago itself ought to be reformed.

Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner from 1989 to 2006, will head an independent panel charged with assessing the "size, structure and operating practices of the USOC board [of directors]."

The panel will "recommend changes, if appropriate, for consideration by the board," the USOC said in a statement.

Full details were not immediately available, including the number of people on the Tagliabue panel, when it might hold a first meeting and when it might issue conclusions or, indeed, recommendations. The USOC said the panel would include "constituent representation."

Larry Probst, the USOC chairman, said in the statement he believes the Tagliabue panel will undertake a "comprehensive and discerning analysis."

Tagliabue's football experience is of course almost beyond compare. His experience in governance issues is rich. But his experience in navigating the unique Olympic landscape -- rather limited.

Whether or not that last factor proves key in the review of the USOC -- as yet uncertain.

Tagliabue predicted in the USOC statement that the "opportunity to collaborate in this vitally important project with others committed to the Olympic tradition will be very positive and constructive."

Six years ago, amid congressional hearings into USOC operations, the USOC undertook a far-reaching reform plan that saw, among other things, the size of its board of directors slashed from 123 to 11.

Probst took over as USOC board chairman last year, succeeding Peter Ueberroth. Stephanie Streeter, who took over as acting USOC chief executive earlier this year, is due to leave the position by the end of 2009; the USOC has launched a full-on search to replace her.

The USOC's current position within the so-called "Olympic family" is arguably as low as it has been in its 31-year history.

The USOC saw its standing eroded considerably throughout 2009, in part by ongoing management shuffle and in part by a a series of financial disputes with the International Olympic Committee. Those tensions were then exacerbated in the summer by the USOC's aborted launch of its own TV network.

International regard for the USOC was made abundantly plain in October via the IOC's October vote for the 2016 Games.

Chicago, despite an in-person appeal by President and Mrs. Obama, finished last in the IOC balloting. The IOC awarded those 2016 Games to Rio de Janeiro.