Andrew Cooper, from college star to activist: ‘The NCAA does not exist to protect athletes’

The former track and cross-country runner sees systemic failure in how universities and the NCAA handle issues around mental health and sexual abuse allegations

Let's be clear - Andrew Cooper is no fan of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. A former track and cross-country runner at Washington State University and the University of California, Berkeley, Cooper's experience as an athlete at top American universities provided him with a critical eye of how the NCAA governs college sports. As a long-distance runner, Cooper has had plenty of time to think. And he believes the structure, system, and priorities of US college sports need a reboot.

Cooper served inside the machine as president of the NCAA's Student-Athlete Advisory Council at WSU and UC Berkeley. Today, he is an athletes' rights activist who sees systemic failure in how universities and the NCAA handle issues around mental health and sexual abuse allegations. Cooper sees patterns.