Larry Scott said he has changed his personal style of management and engagement with Pac-12 ADs and school presidents, admitting he “made some mistakes” during his first decade as conference commissioner. “I’ve had to adapt my style,” he said today during an interview at the Learfield IMG College Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. "When I was brought in in 2009, it was by the presidents and chancellors that were looking for a different governance model. They wanted the conference to be run top down, with myself and presidents collaborating with others, but it was pretty clear they wanted a strong, CEO type of leader."
Scott continued, "As time went on, it became clear to me that some of our stakeholders felt disenfranchised. … It became clear that our athletic directors didn’t feel that their point of view, their experience, their expertise was being leveraged. They felt cut out of the big decisions, and I was slow to recognize the problem that this would create and I was not very good about building the type of support you need."
Read More
Scott said of what he changed in terms of dealing with ADs, “I had to learn to bring athletic directors more into the fold, to appreciate the benefit of their perspective, their advice, their knowledge, their close relationships with their presidents. We even made changes to our meeting structure. Now, before almost every one of our board meetings, the presidents and chancellors and me will have a dinner along with all of our athletic directors to identify the two or three biggest things on our agenda.” Scott also noted that when he now has an opportunity to do press conference, he will “do it side-by-side with a president or chancellor or with an athletic director.” Scott: “That’s been appreciated, and I’ve benefited from it as well.”
Scott examined why he may have had to change his leadership style, saying, “I’ve had to adjust from what was a more traditional pro league commissioner type of profile and approach, which is kind of what I came to the role with. I had been a deputy commissioner or commissioner for 25 years in pro tennis. It’s just a different style. It’s why I was recruited. It’s what the presidents wanted in the first instance. But I realize I made some mistakes and it probably wasn’t well-designed from the beginning. I had to adjust.”
