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Regaining CFB, CBB Prestige A Key Focus For Pac-12 Exec Committee

Pac-12's competitive stature in men’s basketball and football will be a focus for the new commissionerGETTY IMAGES

The group of execs searching for Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott’s successor discussed what "needs to happen, both on a commissioner and a CEO level, to return Pac-12 football and men’s basketball to a national championship level in the long term," according to Mike Vorel of the SEATTLE TIMES. That group consists of Oregon President Michael Schill, Univ. of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and Washington State President Kirk Schulz. Schulz on Thursday acknowledged “areas of opportunity for the next commissioner are what many of you have written about, our competitive stature nationally in sports like men’s basketball and football.” Vorel notes the transition from Scott, who will leave the conference on June 30, is taking place a year before his contract expires. With the Pac-12’s media-rights deal expiring in '24 and negotiations expected to commence late in '22, Schill said that it "made sense to remove Scott this summer 'to get someone in place early enough so they could get their feet wet, they could understand what’s going on and work with us to strategize what our future would be.'" Schill added, "It just seemed like this was a good time to be thinking about the future." Schulz said, "They’ve got to understand the uniqueness of our schools -- our strengths and some of our challenges.” Vorel notes in the Pac-12, those challenges include "waning fan support." Cauce: “Obviously we have some work to do, there’s no question about it. But I feel really, really confident" (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/22).

"INEVITABLE" CHOICE: In San Jose, Jon Wilner writes that the presidents and chancellors acted now, with the pandemic "raging and their budgets eroding, indicates a sense of urgency." One conference source said, "It was inevitable. We need something different, and we need to get moving as a league. Nobody is happy with where we are.” Wilner writes the case for granting Scott an extension was "flimsy." There have been "too many embarrassing administrative missteps." The football product is "struggling." The Pac-12 Networks are "flailing, and the conference brand is in tatters." But Wilner wonders, "Why now? Why not delay until the spring or early summer?" Because "every month matters, and the presidents recognized that." They "need time for the search, which could take six or nine months, and the new commissioner will need time to settle in and craft a strategy before the momentous media rights negotiations begin in two years" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 1/22).

RECAPTURING PRESTIGE: In Seattle, Larry Stone writes, "Scott’s replacement, above all else, must restore the prestige and reputation of the Pac-12. Period, end of story." The specifics of how the conference's status "sank so precipitously low during Scott’s 12-year tenure tell a sordid tale," and the "mechanics of how to pull the league out of its tailspin will be hotly debated over the next few months during the search for Scott’s replacement." But the "mission is clear: In so many different arenas, Scott’s ham-handed, tone-deaf and often misguided leadership led the Pac-12 astray, and adrift." The new leader will be charged, "ultimately, with bringing esteem back to a league that once overflowed with it" (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/22).

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