Brad Cesmat
The tumultuous era of Larry Scott running the Pac-12 Conference will come to an end later in 2021.
Scott and the Conference put out a press release Wednesday night on the news of his departure.
“I was in pro sports for 20 years, I’ve now been in college athletics for more than 10 years, and now is a great time in my life to pursue other exciting opportunities,” Scott said in the release. “This moment, when college athletics are moving in a new direction and with the Conference soon commencing the next round of media negotiations, it seems the right time to make a change. The conference must be able to put in place the person who will negotiate and carry out that next agreement.”
While the Pac-12 Network came on board as a terrific idea to feature all sports, not just football, and men’s basketball, Scott was never able to get a distribution deal put together with Direct-TV. Ultimately, I would say that was his biggest failure.
In the Fall of 2013, Eric Sorenson and I toured the PAC-12 Network facilities in downtown San Francisco. To say they were opulent would’ve been an understatement. Scott liked to do things in a big way. Ultimately, the dollars he was spending would come out in various media reports.
His greatest achievement was placing the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Conference Tournaments in Las Vegas. It was a brilliant move!
But he needed to go. It’s hard to dispute the national narrative that the PAC-12 has fallen to the bottom of the Power Five.
Just my two cents. Arizona State Athletic Director Ray Anderson should be considered as the replacement for Scott.
