Two years ago, Charlie Baker stepped away from politics to take on the role of president of the NCAA.

And, after eight years as Massachusetts’ Republican governor, he likely found his new gig messier than his previous one.

With the NCAA transfer portal overflowing, the changing times of player free agency through name, image and likeness and conference movement, repairing college sports has never been a bigger challenge.

On Tuesday, Baker, who was in town with former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards as part of the McNeese Banners Series, spent his afternoon touring the school’s facilities and speaking with student-athletes.

“I like to meet with the students who are at the heart of what we are trying to do at the NCAA,” Baker said. “I want to hear their concerns and their thoughts.”

Baker said he was impressed with McNeese’s facilities and the rebuilding efforts since the 2020 hurricanes.

“To see what they are doing here and the changes being made, it is impressive,” he said. “The school has come a long way in the last few years from the destruction that was here. You have to give credit to the administration and athletes who went through all that.”

When it comes to fixing messes, Baker knows what it takes. He inherited a big one in the NCAA, which continues to look out of control as players move from school to school in bidding wars.

With most of the issues being battled out in courts throughout the nation, Baker said he hopes things will settle down sooner rather than later.

“I want to try and be part of the solution to the problem,” Baker said. “One thing I’ve learned: you always underestimate the trouble under the hood until you open it up.

“Right now, I don’t like a lot of the way the system works. It’s a (lousy) way to run something.”

Baker said he hopes that after the lawsuits are settled and the NCAA establishes more controls, a “more normal process will follow.”

He said he wants schools and athletes to collaborate on NIL. That means eliminating middlemen, or agents, whom he said make things more difficult for athletes.

“I believe it’s hard for young people to have to navigate through third parties,” Baker said. “I think the more the schools can work directly with athletes, the better it is for everybody.”

Baker took questions from athletes and said he was surprised by the number of those on hand who had transferred to McNeese. He discussed the opportunities that athletics bring to a school trying to build its brand.

“You look at how McNeese has done it over the last couple of years and you see what an investment in athletics can do for an entire university,” Baker said. “I think McNeese has done it the right way. Look at the attention their NCAA Tournament run and beating Clemson did; it broke their website.”

He said he hopes that other schools facing similar challenges, especially smaller schools, will look to McNeese as an example and work on growing through their athletics programs.

“I think what is happening here can be used as a model for others,” Baker said.

Perhaps the top guy at the NCAA learned more than he taught during his trip to Lake Charles.

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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com