It's no secret the NCAA is facing difficult times with the recent basketball scandals between the University of Louisville and North Carolina, but now NCAA president Mark Emmert is concerned about the public's confidence in college sports.

Emmert spoke Monday at a meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and shared what could be considered alarming data collected by the NCAA.

The findings showed 79 percent of people polled believe big schools put money ahead of student-athletes, 69 percent considered those universities more of a problem than the solution and 51 percent said the NCAA is part of the problem.

“I can’t think of anything 79% of Americans agree to, but they agree to that," Emmert said in response to the first finding, via USA Today.

Emmert said these numbers create doubt around two key notions at the heart of the organization's mission, which made him ask the questions of what kind of business is the NCAA in and how do they govern it?

“The NCAA member schools — my staff and those schools — have to got to get our arms around it fast. We’ve got to recognize that this isn’t just some little blip that’s going to go away over time," Emmert said. "This is a real questioning of whether or not the universities and colleges, through the association, can manage their affairs.”

Emmert said the news in September around the FBI probe in bribery and corruption in college basketball was “absolutely shattering" in terms of the public’s confidence in the NCAA member schools’ ability to govern themselves.

The NCAA recently announced the formation of a commission of college basketball that will be headed by former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, but Emmert said the NCAA will have to take "real action" before the 2018-19 basketball season in order to see significant changes.

“Well, I think it’s pretty damning, and it requires a direct response — not just in words, but in real action," Emmert said. "Now that doesn’t mean we can do anything tomorrow because we do have to work with all the universities and colleges to get something done. But … we can’t go into the next basketball season without having made some pretty significant changes that restore people’s confidence in, not just basketball, but in the enterprise.”