After Scott, Pac12 needs a leader
Well, that was a day full of hope and celebration.
Oh, you thought I meant for the nation?
I meant for Pac12 sports fans. That was the kind of joke going around after word came out late on inauguration day that Pac12 Commissioner Larry Scott also would be leaving his seat of power.
The mocking is fitting. Because Scott — and by extension, his conference — has become something of a laughingstock. The butt of jokes.
But now? Cue the fireworks and pop the Champagne.
Scott, who will remain on the job until June, already is spinning this as a mutual parting of ways, a chance for him to enjoy some “me” time. But make no mistake: With more than a year left on his contract and his conference falling further and further behind the rest of the Power 5 in the big revenue sports of football and basketball — the sports that make people like Scott relevant and wealthy — it was beyond time for a change.
If one’s legacy is based on who has nice things to say about you, and who is willing to crush you off the record, Scott is going to need a lot more than spin to reshape his reputation.
The names of potential replacement candidates are already swirling through the ether and many of them are intriguing. Among them: Oliver Luck, who has an extensive background in
college administration and, more importantly for Pac12 purposes, is the father of former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck; Ohio State athlete director Gene Smith; WCC Commissioner and former Scott underling Gloria Nevarez; and Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir.
Whoever gets the job has a lot to do, not only in figuring out how to improve the conference’s televisionrights deal after the current one expires in 2024, but also how to restore the legitimacy of the socalled “Conference of Champions.”
The new commissioner needs to be wellversed in the ins and outs of the biggest cash cow, college football. The new commissioner will need to appreciate the uniqueness with member universities and build connections with their leaders. And the new commissioner should not have any ties to the toxic Scott, who had neither of those first two attributes.
Scott came to the Pac12 by way of Harvard and women’s tennis. A fine background, but only if he had evolved in the parameters of his new job. He didn’t seem to much care to nurture the sports that bring in the big money or connect with the schools that make up the conference. He viewed his role as marketing a product; he viewed the conference as a media company.
He created his own ivory tower, moving the Pac12 headquarters from a modest location in Walnut Creek to a pricey chunk of downtown San Francisco real estate. That’s where he built stateoftheart broadcasting studios for the Pac12 Network, which hasn’t been able to extend its reach far enough to justify the expense.
He acted more like a king than a commissioner; he is the highestpaid commissioner in college sports, despite his conference bringing in far less in television revenues than his peers. Scott chartered jets and stayed in lavish hotel suites. He hired a bloated executive staff, with enormous salaries to match. Last summer, as he was laying off or furloughing half the conference employees, he and some of his top executives collected millions in bonuses. His relationship with member schools was so toxic that administrators were happy to leak any and all of his missteps to the media.
For fans of the respective members of the conference, the worst thing was what happened to their games and their schools’ reputations on his watch. He negotiated a 12year deal with ESPN and Fox that seemed revolutionary at the time but has since left the conference behind as others renegotiate better deals.
He manipulated kickoff times to fit television schedules, not fans’ desires. His minions interfered in officiating decisions. The conference championship game became a joke: first because it was held on a Friday night at Levi’s Stadium, all but guaranteeing a nearempty building. And this year because of COVID complications and the phony reliance on the NorthSouth split, a deserving team was left out. His team reversed course on how to handle the pandemic, looking like a follower rather than a leader. He patronized athletes by insisting they were safer on campuses, even as outbreaks of the virus spread.
During his tenure, no Pac12 team has contended for either a football or men’s basketball national championship. Only two teams have landed in the College Football Playoff, none in recent years. Recruiting has waned, with the most talented recruits from the region leaving for the SEC or the Big Ten, where the showcase will be bigger, the lights brighter.
When he arrived in 2009, Scott might have been the man for the job. But in the past decade, the world of college sports has changed and he has not kept up.
The Pac12 needs to restore its credibility. It needs a new vision.
Time for a fresh start.