The executive committee of the Pac-12 Conference CEO Group gave me 15 minutes on Thursday morning to ask questions about what’s about to happen in the wake of dumping the conference commissioner.
I thought about coming out of the gate with, “What the $#%@ took you so long?”
The conference announced Wednesday night that it won’t renew the contract of embattled commissioner Larry Scott. The Pac-12 will hire a search firm, let it help craft a job description, and Washington president Ana Mari Cauce told me on Thursday, “Nothing is off the table.”
Not the Pac-12 Network future.
Not the future location of conference headquarters.
Especially not a significant reduction in salary for the new hire.
My biggest takeaway is that this group of presidents and chancellors is far more evolved than the campus leaders from last time this kind of hire was made. They’re engaged and far more tuned into the opportunities in athletics than their predecessors. They don’t view sports as some kind of campus toy factory, for example. And I’m left with one important thought — the current Pac-12 CEO Group sounds like it knows what it’s doing.
Oregon president Michael Schill is the chair of that group. He’s joined on the Pac-12 executive committee by UW’s Cauce and Washington State president Kirk Schulz. Smart, tuned in, and a big-time Pacific Northwest feel. Also, they’re 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 PR surrounding Larry’s compensation. My goal going into this is that it should not be the No. 1 thing people are talking about when it comes to the Pac-12.
“I want to make sure we tone that down a little bit.”
When I asked about the downtown San Francisco headquarters bleeding the Pac-12 out at a rate of $7 million a year, Cauce noted, “We’re not tying anyone’s hands so we’re not wedded to, ‘it has to be here’ or ‘it has to be there.’”
Schulz added: “We would expect the person to come in and weigh in early and make some recommendations around the network, conference location and staffing levels.”
Basically, this is a total reboot.
It’s worth pointing out, as the trio did Thursday morning, that most of the conference’s presidents and chancellors weren’t on the job when Scott was hired a decade ago. Only ASU and UCLA are old-guard holdovers. The rest of the Pac-12 inherited him and had to live with Scott’s tired act just like the rest of us. It’s why I was confident all along that it would make a change.
Schill told me the conference hasn’t yet crafted the job description for the new commissioner. He wants to consult with the 11 other Pac-12 leaders and figure out what it should entail. He’ll also leave it to the search firm to help with that. But Schulz hit it square between the eyes when he offered, “You’ve got 12 schools, they’re like 12 children. You have to love ‘em all different. I want the commissioner to show up at Pullman (and other schools) and say, ‘What can I do to help you succeed?’”
Same for Washington, Oregon, USC and the others. The next commissioner has to understand the challenges on the individual campuses. Has to be a good listener from the start. That person’s tenure should start with a two-day meeting with coaches, athletic directors and athletes on each of the campuses.
Don’t fly private charter and stay at some five-star hotel, either. Maybe rent a motor home and park it in the lot outside the football stadium. Or crash at the Hampton Inn and eat takeout.
A short list of candidates that I’d like to talk with? Condoleezza Rice, perhaps, although I doubt she’d be interested. Also, West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez and Alabama AD Greg Byrne, who worked at multiple campuses in the conference. Maybe Oliver Luck and Oregon AD Rob Mullens, too.
I think there are a line of good, hard-working souls who would love to go down as the person who saved the Pac-12. But more significantly, I have sudden confidence this CEO Group will find that person.
The headquarters need to move to a more affordable footprint. Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas or the Bay Area suburbs? All on the table. Also, the future of the network is in serious doubt. I’d vote to sell it to a partner such as FS1 or ESPN and let it funnel resources into making the thing a success. But as the presidents reiterated Thursday, those recommendations won’t come from some sports columnist.
They’ll come from the new hire.
A hire this group must now get dead, solid, perfect.
I was struck by something else as I spoke to the trio of Pac-12 leaders Thursday. They were engaged and intelligent. They also sounded like a lot of passionate conference fans. They talked about the Pac-12 as if they love and adore it. A couple of them confessed that they even secretly root for their rivals when it comes to competing on the national stage.
Cauce said, “As much as I hate to say it, when the Cougs or the Ducks win outside the conference, it’s good for us.”
Schill shot back: “I won’t say it because you’re in the press, but she’s been very supportive of us 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 on the job through June, but gone was the dismissive arrogance of his tenure. It’s been replaced by hope.
It feels like things are better already.
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