The executive committee of the Pac-12 Conference CEO Group gave me 15 minutes on Thursday morning to ask questions about what was going to happen after the conference commissioner ended.
I thought about leaving the gate with, “What the $ #% @ took so long? “
The conference announced on Wednesday night that it will not renew Commissioner Larry Scott’s contract. Pac-12 will hire a search firm, let it help draw a job description, and Washington President Ana Mari Cauce told me on Thursday: “Nothing is out of the question.”
It is not the future of the Pac-12 Network.
It is not the future location of the conference venue.
Mainly a significant reduction in the salary of the new hire.
My biggest conclusion is that this group of presidents and chancellors is much more evolved than the campus leaders the last time this type of hiring was done. They are engaged and much more attuned to the opportunities in athletics than their predecessors. They don’t see sports as a kind of campus toy factory, for example. And I have an important thought – the current Pac-12 CEO Group seems to know what it is doing.
Oregon President Michael Schill is the president of that group. He joined the Pac-12 executive committee by Cauce from UW and Washington State President Kirk Schulz. Smart, tuned and a great feeling for the Pacific Northwest. In addition, they are all newcomers who inherited Scott.
When I asked them about the distraction that Scott’s $ 5.3 million a year salary caused, Schulz said, “We are well aware of the public relations surrounding Larry’s pay. My goal in addressing this is that it shouldn’t be the number one thing people are talking about when it comes to Pac-12.
“I want to make sure that we tone down a little.”
When I asked about San Francisco downtown headquarters bleeding the Pac-12 at a rate of $ 7 million a year, Cauce noted: “We are not tying anyone’s hands, so we are not married, ‘you have to be here’ ‘it has to be there.’ “
Schulz added: “We hope that the person arrives and ponders as soon as possible and makes some recommendations about the network, the conference location and staffing levels.”
Basically, this is a hard reset.
It is worth mentioning, as the trio did on Thursday morning, that most conference presidents and chancellors were not in office when Scott was hired a decade ago. Only ASU and UCLA are remnants of the old guard. The rest of Pac-12 inherited it and had to live with Scott’s tired act, just like the rest of us. That’s why I was always confident that it would change.
Schill told me that the conference has not yet prepared the job description for the new commissioner. He wants to consult the other 11 leaders of Pac-12 and find out what that entails. He will also leave it to the search company to help with that. But Schulz nailed it when he said: “You have 12 schools, they are like 12 children. You have to love them all differently. I want the commissioner to show up at Pullman (and other schools) and say, ‘What can I do to help you succeed?’ “
The same for Washington, Oregon, USC and the others. The next commissioner must understand the challenges on each campus. You have to be a good listener from the beginning. That person’s term must begin with a two-day meeting with coaches, sports directors and athletes on each of the campuses.
Don’t fly in private charter and stay in a five star hotel too. Maybe rent a trailer and park outside the football stadium. Or stay overnight at the Hampton Inn and eat takeout.
You know, a glaring sign that things have really changed.
A short list of candidates you would like to talk to? Condoleezza Rice, perhaps, although I doubt she is interested. In addition, West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez and Alabama AD Greg Byrne, who worked on several campuses at the conference. Maybe Oliver Luck and Oregon AD Rob Mullens too.
I think there is a line of good, hardworking souls who would love to be the person who saved Pac-12. But more significantly, I have a sudden confidence that the CEO Group will find that person.
The headquarters needs to move to a more accessible area. Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas or the suburbs of the Bay Area? Everything on the table. In addition, the future of the network is in serious doubt. I would vote to sell it to a partner like FS1 or ESPN and let it channel resources to make it a success. But, as the presidents reiterated on Thursday, these recommendations will not come from any sports columnist.
They will come from the new hire.
A contract from this group must now be dead, solid, perfect.
Another thing impressed me when I spoke to the trio of Pac-12 leaders on Thursday. They were engaged and intelligent. They also looked like passionate conference fans. They talked about Pac-12 as if they love and adore it. Some of them confessed that they even secretly support their rivals when it comes to competing on the national scene.
Cauce said, “As much as I hate to say it, when the ‘Cougs or the Ducks win out of the conference, it’s good for us.”
Schill countered: “I won’t say why you’re in the press, but she supported us a lot in certain situations. I’ll leave it at that. “
The trio spoke with hope and clarity on Thursday. It was a breath of fresh air. Scott is technically still in office until June, but the contemptuous arrogance of his term is over. It was replaced by hope.
It seems that things are already better.
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