Former Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday he'll "never rule anything out" when asked if he'd ever consider returning to elected office, while speaking at the UMass Club about his work at the NCAA.
"But I think we live in really challenging times, and it's important [for] really good people to step up," the NCAA president said.
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The two-term Republican governor also quipped, "I'm not old enough to run for president, I'm only turning 68 this year."
In addition to his private sector work, Baker spent 16 years in state government and four in local government. He was approached about leading the NCAA at the end of October in his final year as governor, he said, when he was envisioning a post-gubernatorial life of giving talks about working in the public sector.
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"If someone told me, literally, in October of '22, rolling into the end of my term… you're going to be president of the NCAA, I would have said, 'yeah right.' So, I never rule anything out," he said.
After the event, Baker declined to answer questions from reporters about anything other than issues related to college sports.
Reporters asked for whom he was voting in the presidential election this November.
"I'm not here to talk about that," Baker said to a crowd of about 10 reporters, after momentarily stopping the scrum to take a phone call.
In both 2016 and 2020, Baker declined to publicly endorse a candidate for president (though he endorsed Chris Christie just days before he dropped out of the Republican primary in 2016). In 2016, he said he cast a blank ballot that November, not wanting to vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton; and throughout the 2020 election cycle he consistently dodged reporters' questions about his vote in the contest between Trump and Joe Biden.
On Thursday, Baker also declined to answer questions on how the New England Patriots were doing, and about Gov. Maura Healey's performance as governor so far, about halfway through a term in which she has focused, in part, on MBTA problems dating to Baker's tenure.
"I'm here to talk about college sports and the NCAA, and that's why I'm here. I'm not here to talk about other stuff. So if you don't have questions on any of that, that's great," he said, and walked away.
