“Pac 12-New Day–New Era”

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The Pac 12-Conference sells itself as the ‘Conference of Champions’.

Not so much recently.  Definitely not now in football, and seldom in basketball.  Don’t know many alums of those schools who wrap their arms around Volleyball-Swimming-Golf etc.

A conference that is lagging behind in prestige nationally, way behind in revenue payouts from its own TV networks, and dismally distant in terms of football and basketball rankings.

The SEC has a stranglehold in football and in revenue sharing, giving each school 51M per year, and dominating the college football playoffs and the rankings.  Last check showed the Pac 12 schools getting 31M per university in media payouts.

The ACC is all about basketball tradition.  The Big 12 has its football legacy.

The Pac 12, once upon a time led by USC, has had flourishes in Washington and Oregon, but has slipped from the mainstream of thought.

So has what was Texas-Texas AM-Nebraska-Penn State-Michigan.

But a new day starts this weekend with new leadership in the Pac 12-Commissioner’s office.

Larry Scott removed as leader of the Pac 12, his early successes negated by alot of recent failures, and a string of controversial decisions  trailing him out the door.

A fractured relationship with Athletic Departments up and down the conference map.  A feeling that Scott was in his own solar system and ADs and Coaches and programs were just lucky to be on board.

A cfedibility problem portrayed by a media contingent who believe Scott was a fraud, an expensive acqisution that became an even more expensive mistake.

A closeup look at the Pac 12’s new day dawning, in a column from the Oregonian.

A Conference of Champions…past tense for sure.

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Larry Scott’s final day on the job will culminate with a company-wide 4 p.m. Zoom call today. He’ll be greeted by a few special guests, say some words to the staff, and there are plans to send him off with a parting gift.

At quitting time, it’s done.

Scott officially becomes the ex-Pac-12 Conference commissioner.

His legacy isn’t complicated. Scott took the job 4,382 days ago. He was hired away from the Women’s Tennis Association by the conference presidents and chancellors. In the Pac-12 world, the Harvard-educated tennis player succeeded the folksy act of Tom Hansen, who didn’t even have a cellular telephone.

Scott’s arrival signaled the start to a new, refreshing era.

His departure does exactly the same.

The conference is not better off today than it was when Scott arrived in 2009. But it’s not really a linear measurement. Early in his tenure, he negotiated what appeared to be a ground-breaking lucrative television deal. He also engineered the launch the Pac-12 Networks and added Utah and Colorado. For a while, Scott looked like a guy who might keep his $5 million-a-year gig forever. That is, until he stared so long at his own reflection in the marble soaking tub that he fell in and drowned.

Ego sunk him.

It gets us all in some way.

I’ll never forget calling then-Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos a couple of years ago to ask him what he made of Scott’s nauseating act. Moos was a rancher who had worked at Oregon and Washington State.

“All of our eyebrows went up a little bit when the conference moved from Walnut Creek to San Francisco. There’s a reason ESPN is in Bristol (Connecticut) and not Manhattan,” said Moos.

“But Larry likes to go first cabin.”

Scott traveled by private charter and lived in the upscale Blackhawk development in the Bay Area’s San Ramon Valley. He dined at the finest restaurants, kept a couple of downtown San Francisco apartments, threw expensive parties, and acted in a lot of ways like the executives of those Silicon Valley tech companies. Those were his pals. They lived like he did, spent like he did, and attended the same benefits.

In that, Larry Scott probably still doesn’t think he did a thing wrong.

In fact, the story goes that a conference employee was enlisted by Scott a few years ago to do a thorough examination of rising expenses. The Pac-12 had just paid six figures for the construction of an entire studio set in Las Vegas as part of its annual basketball tournament. It also threw a lavish party for sponsors, friends, and family at the Rose Bowl that year. That event included chartered flights and hotel rooms for all.

The employee studied and noted all of the above. But the first item discussed with Scott in the official presentation didn’t fly well. The staffer pointed out an oddity. The Pac-12 didn’t have a travel-expense policy for the executive team.

Scott ended the study.

The employee was gone a few months later.

The point of this column isn’t to pile on. Scott meant well on most days, I’m sure. He probably looks back and sees all the good things he accomplished in a decade. But when I look back at Scott’s tenure, I mostly see what might have been. Also, there’s a case study in lousy management here that should be part of every young executive’s assigned reading.

Scott wasn’t well received by his own mid and low-level staffers. He didn’t do enough to connect with them, relate with them, or take care of them. He drew a tight inner circle and looked down on those outside of it. His tone-deaf follies became the stuff of lore in the last few years, drawing comparisons to Steve Carell’s depiction of bumbling manager Michael Scott in The Office.

If it weren’t so true and painful, it might have been funny.

Scott collected more than $40 million in earnings from the conference during his tenure. That’s more than any commissioner in the land. In addition to the two aforementioned apartments, public records show he and his wife also bought a home in Florida. Presumably, for tax purposes. What I’m saying is, the Pac-12′s outgoing commissioner was a deft negotiator who was no dummy. But in the end, what’s good for Scott and what’s good for the Pac-12 weren’t often the same things.

I’m conflicted by that Zoom call that will happen today. Employees have mixed feelings about it, too. They’ll attend, but some of them have expressed that the change in leadership was the best news the conference got in the last couple of years.

Trouble is, there aren’t very many employees left. The downtown-San Francisco office building that sucked $90 million in rent from the Pac-12 during Scott’s tenure sits mostly empty now. Lay-offs gutted the staff. Most of the remaining employees are working from home. I doubt Scott even showed up much over the last few months.

The Pac-12 Network was once a bustling, vibrant, hopeful entity. It was Scott’s baby. But the studio production staff that once had dozens of full-time employees on the floor is now reduced to a staff of one. That employee announced on Twitter this week that he’s leaving for another job.

That makes zero full-time studio production employees left at the Pac-12 Network.

Think on that.

Scott’s tenure is like one of those fables Aesop liked to tell. It began hopeful and promising. But it disintegrated over the years into a sobering lesson about leadership, ego and humility. The Pac-12 desperately needs to matter again, but in doing so, it probably should do a quick study of Scott’s tenure and take note of the misfires.

Scott is gone officially after today. The hand-picked media outlet interviews he’s done in the last few months don’t suggest he’s learned a thing. He blamed universities for being unrealistic and the football programs for being unproductive. He’s absolved himself of responsibility. Nowhere in any of those interviews has Larry Scott owned his strategy mistakes and management blunders. Nowhere has he acknowledged that he treated a line of his own staff members poorly.

In that, I’m not sure he’ll ever get it.

He will get his farewell at 4 p.m. Some surprise guests will pop into the call. A gift will be given to him. (Employees were not asked to contribute. I know. I asked because I learned you had to ask with Scott around.) After that, the hunch here is that Scott will take some time off and do some consulting. Maybe he’ll go to work for one of those firms (Alibaba? Raine Group?) he cultivated while working as commissioner.

The rest of us will pick up and move on, too. The conference has a College Football Playoff to make. It must also navigate the impending Name/Image/Likeness developments, decide what to do with its network, maybe relocate headquarters, and negotiate the next round of media rights.

Thursday is George Kliavkoff’s first day on the job.

It’s him I’m thinking about now.

There’s important work to do.

 

 

 

 

 

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Larry Scott’s final day on the job will culminate with a company-wide 4 p.m. Zoom call today. He’ll be greeted by a few special guests, say some words to the staff, and there are plans to send him off with a parting gift.

At quitting time, it’s done.

Scott officially becomes the ex-Pac-12 Conference commissioner.

His legacy isn’t complicated. Scott took the job 4,382 days ago. He was hired away from the Women’s Tennis Association by the conference presidents and chancellors. In the Pac-12 world, the Harvard-educated tennis player succeeded the folksy act of Tom Hansen, who didn’t even have a cellular telephone.

Scott’s arrival signaled the start to a new, refreshing era.

His departure does exactly the same.

The conference is not better off today than it was when Scott arrived in 2009. But it’s not really a linear measurement. Early in his tenure, he negotiated what appeared to be a ground-breaking lucrative television deal. He also engineered the launch the Pac-12 Networks and added Utah and Colorado. For a while, Scott looked like a guy who might keep his $5 million-a-year gig forever. That is, until he stared so long at his own reflection in the marble soaking tub that he fell in and drowned.

Ego sunk him.

It gets us all in some way.

I’ll never forget calling then-Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos a couple of years ago to ask him what he made of Scott’s nauseating act. Moos was a rancher who had worked at Oregon and Washington State.

“All of our eyebrows went up a little bit when the conference moved from Walnut Creek to San Francisco. There’s a reason ESPN is in Bristol (Connecticut) and not Manhattan,” said Moos.

“But Larry likes to go first cabin.”

Scott traveled by private charter and lived in the upscale Blackhawk development in the Bay Area’s San Ramon Valley. He dined at the finest restaurants, kept a couple of downtown San Francisco apartments, threw expensive parties, and acted in a lot of ways like the executives of those Silicon Valley tech companies. Those were his pals. They lived like he did, spent like he did, and attended the same benefits.

In that, Larry Scott probably still doesn’t think he did a thing wrong.

In fact, the story goes that a conference employee was enlisted by Scott a few years ago to do a thorough examination of rising expenses. The Pac-12 had just paid six figures for the construction of an entire studio set in Las Vegas as part of its annual basketball tournament. It also threw a lavish party for sponsors, friends, and family at the Rose Bowl that year. That event included chartered flights and hotel rooms for all.

The employee studied and noted all of the above. But the first item discussed with Scott in the official presentation didn’t fly well. The staffer pointed out an oddity. The Pac-12 didn’t have a travel-expense policy for the executive team.

Scott ended the study.

The employee was gone a few months later.

The point of this column isn’t to pile on. Scott meant well on most days, I’m sure. He probably looks back and sees all the good things he accomplished in a decade. But when I look back at Scott’s tenure, I mostly see what might have been. Also, there’s a case study in lousy management here that should be part of every young executive’s assigned reading.

Scott wasn’t well received by his own mid and low-level staffers. He didn’t do enough to connect with them, relate with them, or take care of them. He drew a tight inner circle and looked down on those outside of it. His tone-deaf follies became the stuff of lore in the last few years, drawing comparisons to Steve Carell’s depiction of bumbling manager Michael Scott in The Office.

If it weren’t so true and painful, it might have been funny.

Scott collected more than $40 million in earnings from the conference during his tenure. That’s more than any commissioner in the land. In addition to the two aforementioned apartments, public records show he and his wife also bought a home in Florida. Presumably, for tax purposes. What I’m saying is, the Pac-12′s outgoing commissioner was a deft negotiator who was no dummy. But in the end, what’s good for Scott and what’s good for the Pac-12 weren’t often the same things.

I’m conflicted by that Zoom call that will happen today. Employees have mixed feelings about it, too. They’ll attend, but some of them have expressed that the change in leadership was the best news the conference got in the last couple of years.

Trouble is, there aren’t very many employees left. The downtown-San Francisco office building that sucked $90 million in rent from the Pac-12 during Scott’s tenure sits mostly empty now. Lay-offs gutted the staff. Most of the remaining employees are working from home. I doubt Scott even showed up much over the last few months.

The Pac-12 Network was once a bustling, vibrant, hopeful entity. It was Scott’s baby. But the studio production staff that once had dozens of full-time employees on the floor is now reduced to a staff of one. That employee announced on Twitter this week that he’s leaving for another job.

That makes zero full-time studio production employees left at the Pac-12 Network.

Think on that.

Scott’s tenure is like one of those fables Aesop liked to tell. It began hopeful and promising. But it disintegrated over the years into a sobering lesson about leadership, ego and humility. The Pac-12 desperately needs to matter again, but in doing so, it probably should do a quick study of Scott’s tenure and take note of the misfires.

Scott is gone officially after today. The hand-picked media outlet interviews he’s done in the last few months don’t suggest he’s learned a thing. He blamed universities for being unrealistic and the football programs for being unproductive. He’s absolved himself of responsibility. Nowhere in any of those interviews has Larry Scott owned his strategy mistakes and management blunders. Nowhere has he acknowledged that he treated a line of his own staff members poorly.

In that, I’m not sure he’ll ever get it.

He will get his farewell at 4 p.m. Some surprise guests will pop into the call. A gift will be given to him. (Employees were not asked to contribute. I know. I asked because I learned you had to ask with Scott around.) After that, the hunch here is that Scott will take some time off and do some consulting. Maybe he’ll go to work for one of those firms (Alibaba? Raine Group?) he cultivated while working as commissioner.

The rest of us will pick up and move on, too. The conference has a College Football Playoff to make. It must also navigate the impending Name/Image/Likeness developments, decide what to do with its network, maybe relocate headquarters, and negotiate the next round of media rights.

Thursday is George Kliavkoff’s first day on the job.

It’s him I’m thinking about now.

There’s important work to do.