What’s the deal with Larry Scott?

[BuffaloB]

New to PAC-12 country, wondering why the conference extended his contract last year? What has he done for conference that warranted that? Is he receiving any heat from conference ADs, coaches, media, and fans?

Not trolling, just wondering. After the 1-8 bowl season, no national TV distribution and a lack of passion for football and other high revenue sports would seem to be a big problem in going forward.

 

[DBT]

Ironic thread title

 

[goalline]

New to PAC-12 country, wondering why the conference extended his contract last year? What has he done for conference that warranted that? Is he receiving any heat from conference ADs, coaches, media, and fans?

Not trolling, just wondering. After the 1-8 bowl season, no national TV distribution and a lack of passion for football and other high revenue sports would seem to be a big problem in going forward.

check out the Wilner thread for commentary.

 

[Buffnik]

Larry Scott got extended for the same reason Roger Goodell got the brand new contract. Commissioners give the stakeholders (university chancellors & presidents in the case of the Pac-12) political cover for the horrible business decisions they make as a committee and that commissioner "owns" to the public. As long as that commissioner continues to grow revenue and accept the public criticism onto himself, he's worth every penny to those stakeholders.

 

[Buffs35]

New to PAC-12 country, wondering why the conference extended his contract last year? What has he done for conference that warranted that? Is he receiving any heat from conference ADs, coaches, media, and fans?

Not trolling, just wondering. After the 1-8 bowl season, no national TV distribution and a lack of passion for football and other high revenue sports would seem to be a big problem in going forward.

The Pac-12 isn't just about money, or tv distribution, or winning. They really believe in making it a worthwhile experience for the student-athletes and the fans. That's why Scott believes in signing deals that require teams to start play after midnight eastern. He is also being rewarded for his forward thinking. No one else would look to prioritize distribution deals in Asia and Australia over the USA. That's where the real growth is going to come from.

 

[Bufffan68]

The Pac-12 isn't just about money, or tv distribution, or winning. They really believe in making it a worthwhile experience for the student-athletes and the fans. That's why Scott believes in signing deals that require teams to start play after midnight eastern. He is also being rewarded for his forward thinking. No one else would look to prioritize distribution deals in Asia and Australia over the USA. That's where the real growth is going to come from.

Looks like Larry Scott's kid is a Buff fan

 

[Buffnik]

The Asia thing isn't about revenue for the network.

It is 100% about exposure and branding in Asia to attract students who will pay the international rate for undergraduate and graduate education.

Scott spins it to the public, but this is completely about serving an agenda from the university presidents that is completely unaligned with the agenda that Pac-12 athletic directors would have.

 

[DBT]

The Asia thing isn't about revenue for the network.

It is 100% about exposure and branding in Asia to attract students who will pay the international rate for undergraduate and graduate education.

Scott spins it to the public, but this is completely about serving an agenda from the university presidents that is completely unaligned with the agenda that Pac-12 athletic directors would have.

And I thought it was all about getting a great deal on souvenirs. Saving a buck or two for each foam rubber finger, decal, 32 oz commemorative plastic soda cup, etc, will add up!

 

[hokiehead]

The Asia thing isn't about revenue for the network.

It is 100% about exposure and branding in Asia to attract students who will pay the international rate for undergraduate and graduate education.

Scott spins it to the public, but this is completely about serving an agenda from the university presidents that is completely unaligned with the agenda that Pac-12 athletic directors would have.

Thanks for that insight.

If the universities believes they have a viable way to use athletics to improve revenue and academics, I can't take issue with that.

 

[FlaBuff]

 

[ScottyBuff]

Prior to hiring Larry Scott the PAC 10 received a per-school payout from conference revenues (TV, Bowls, Basketball tourney, etc) that was about 25% the amount that the Big Ten schools received and about 30% of what SEC schools received. They were lower than the ACC, Big XII, Notre Dame, BYU, and barely a step up above the Big East at the time.

The recession had hit the schools hard and many athletic departments were scrambling to save programs and balance extreme tuition hikes that caused on campus protests. Endowments had taken gigantic hits from the stock market collapse, donations were getting scarce, and the athletic departments were caught in the middle of a "perfect storm" of economic crunch.

Here is a direct quote from University of Arizona AD Jim Livengood at the time: "We're looking at multimillion-dollar deficits. The old adage of 'just make more money' through better development and fundraising won't help. The problems are too big to just be able to fix on the revenue side. What's going to happen in 2012 when all the stimulus money is gone? That's when the rubber hits the road. It's scary."

Not to mention the very intense pressure going around the college football world at the time with what was widely known to be a major landscape change of realignment, possible "mega conferences" and threats of lawsuits from current and former players about compensation, health care, stipends, etc.

That was the state of Pac 10 when they hired Larry Scott.

Under his tenure the PAC expanded, added the conference championship game, improved their bowl affiliations (adding the Alamo Bowl), and improved the revenue distribution to within 70-80% of what the Big Ten and SEC schools make. In that process things haven't gone as smooth as hoped for the Pac 12 TV network and this past year had scheduling issues that should not have happened; so he isn't without faults. I think the loss of Deputy Commissioner Kevin Weiberg was a big blow to the "football brains" of the conference and they replaced him with a "basketball guy"; probably need to address that leadership void (appoint a Director of Football Operations?) to prevent any similar problems from developing ever again.

As Nik pointed out the Presidents have agendas that don't involve making the Pac 12 look like the SEC; but there are things that can be improved upon.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

Once you understand that Larry Scott works for the university presidents and not the athletic directors, all of his decisions make a lot more sense.

 

[Highlander]

I've always wondered where the market was for rubber dog **** that would create the need for a cargo plane to be full of it flying out of Hong Kong on a regular basis. Is this sort of like our song lyrics confusion where he actually said something else?

 

[onealcd]

Interesting re: the asia initiative. There was an article yesterday about how US universities are hurting from a decrease in foreign students, especially Midwestern universities. I have said it multiple times, these Pac-12 presidents aren't idiots, they know what their athletic department is for and it is 100% marketing. The budget from the AD is nothing compared to the millions these decision makers are dealing with annually.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Once you understand that Larry Scott works for the university presidents and not the athletic directors, all of his decisions make a lot more sense.

And maybe this reality is why CU being in the Pac 12 is not good from a football standpoint. Or, we as fans just need come to terms with the fact that we are destined to be a middling football program in an amateur "Power 5" conference.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

And maybe this reality is why CU being in the Pac 12 is not good from a football standpoint. Or, we as fans just need come to terms with the fact that we are destined to be a middling football program in an amateur "Power 5" conference.

I think you will see the presidents in the Pac-12 schools get frustrated that they aren't seen at the same level as their peers in the Big 10. I have no illusions that the presidents want the Pac-12 to look anything like the SEC or the ACC. Once that level of frustration is reached, we will see some changes. We aren't there yet, but I think we are getting there.

 

[Highlander]

And maybe this reality is why CU being in the Pac 12 is not good from a football standpoint. Or, we as fans just need come to terms with the fact that we are destined to be a middling football program in an amateur "Power 5" conference.

I think much of this discussion leaves out two critical points:

1) Recency bias causes us to be more concerned about what happened last vs. what happened over time. Yes, the Pac 12's record has been going down against P5 schools for a while now. But, as recently as last year, the Pac 12 had 2 schools in the top 4 in the final ranking AND the Pac 12 has most players in the NFL of any conference. The talent is there, I believe, just the right combination of factors hasn't led to a Pac 12 National Champ in a while. This leads me to the next point

2) Historically good programs performing at an elite level is good for a conference's perception. SEC has Bama, UGa, and Auburn all "up" right now. The Big 10 has PSU, UM, and OSU all at the top of the conference heap. The ACC has Clemson now and FSU before that. In the Big 12, UT may be down, but OU is elite. For the Pac 12, rightly or wrongly all roads lead to USC. When they are down, we simply don't look as strong nationally. In the Carroll era, the Pac 12 was discussed as one of the top conferences when it was really about USC and a bit about UO then stepping up behind them when they faltered.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

I think much of this discussion leaves out two critical points:

1) Recency bias causes us to be more concerned about what happened last vs. what happened over time. Yes, the Pac 12's record has been going down against P5 schools for a while now. But, as recently as last year, the Pac 12 had 2 schools in the top 4 in the final ranking AND the Pac 12 has most players in the NFL of any conference. The talent is there, I believe, just the right combination of factors hasn't led to a Pac 12 National Champ in a while. This leads me to the next point

2) Historically good programs performing at an elite level is good for a conference's perception. SEC has Bama, UGa, and Auburn all "up" right now. The Big 10 has PSU, UM, and OSU all at the top of the conference heap. The ACC has Clemson now and FSU before that. In the Big 12, UT may be down, but OU is elite. For the Pac 12, rightly or wrongly all roads lead to USC. When they are down, we simply don't look as strong nationally. In the Carroll era, the Pac 12 was discussed as one of the top conferences when it was really about USC and a bit about UO then stepping up behind them when they faltered.

I'm not sure I buy that, you got a reference for that?

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

I think much of this discussion leaves out two critical points:

1) Recency bias causes us to be more concerned about what happened last vs. what happened over time. Yes, the Pac 12's record has been going down against P5 schools for a while now. But, as recently as last year, the Pac 12 had 2 schools in the top 4 in the final ranking AND the Pac 12 has most players in the NFL of any conference. The talent is there, I believe, just the right combination of factors hasn't led to a Pac 12 National Champ in a while. This leads me to the next point

2) Historically good programs performing at an elite level is good for a conference's perception. SEC has Bama, UGa, and Auburn all "up" right now. The Big 10 has PSU, UM, and OSU all at the top of the conference heap. The ACC has Clemson now and FSU before that. In the Big 12, UT may be down, but OU is elite. For the Pac 12, rightly or wrongly all roads lead to USC. When they are down, we simply don't look as strong nationally. In the Carroll era, the Pac 12 was discussed as one of the top conferences when it was really about USC and a bit about UO then stepping up behind them when they faltered.

Eh, in the world of sports, I think recency bias paints a more truthful picture than people want to admit. Going to back to the Carroll years as the last time we can point to the Pac 12's flagship program being legit shows just how down this conference has been, and what evidence is there that suggests that trend is going to change?

 

[Highlander]

I'm not sure I buy that, you got a reference for that?

It was posted on here in the past 2 weeks or so. I was surprised myself, but made me hopeful for what might happen after this year's debacle.

Eh, in the world of sports, I think recency bias paints a more truthful picture than people want to admit. Going to back to the Carroll years as the last time we can point to the Pac 12's flagship program being legit shows just how down this conference has been, and what evidence is there that suggests that trend is going to change?

I get what you are saying but I also included that last year, the Pac 12 finished with teams ranked #3 and #4. Sure, UW didn't show great in their game, but 2 of the top 4? That's not chump change.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

I found this from 2016 which says the Pac12 is a distant 4th.

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2016/09/which_colleges_and_conferences.html

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

It was posted on here in the past 2 weeks or so. I was surprised myself, but made me hopeful for what might happen after this year's debacle.


I get what you are saying but I also included that last year, the Pac 12 finished with teams ranked #3 and #4. Sure, UW didn't show great in their game, but 2 of the top 4? That's not chump change.

UW staying at #4 after getting handled by Alabama is kind of a joke, but point taken. It would have been nice to see what USC could have done if the Rose Bowl was a Quarterfinal game...

 

[onealcd]

I found this from 2016 which says the Pac12 is a distant 4th.

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2016/09/which_colleges_and_conferences.html

Actually a pretty good outlook considering the Pac-12 has two less teams, second best in terms of average per school.

 

[Bison]

That's some nice coin to take in all of the heat from fans.

I have came to the conclusion that the Pac-12 will never be like the other P5 conferences especially in football and it seems like money isn't that big of a deal since the Pac-12 is marketing to the prospective students especially in Asia.

 

[azbuff]

I've always wondered where the market was for rubber dog **** that would create the need for a cargo plane to be full of it flying out of Hong Kong on a regular basis. Is this sort of like our song lyrics confusion where he actually said something else?

I think there was a hot market for rubber dog **** in the 1980s as a popular prank toy a la the whoopie cushion. Not sure bc I'm only 35.

 

[Deleted member 807]

Once you understand that Larry Scott works for the university presidents and not the athletic directors, all of his decisions make a lot more sense.

WWGGD?

(Gordon Gee)

 

[MiamiBuffs]

New to PAC-12 country, wondering why the conference extended his contract last year? What has he done for conference that warranted that? Is he receiving any heat from conference ADs, coaches, media, and fans?

In addition to doubling or trippling conference revenue ahead of the other conferences? Not much. But enough to keep his 12 bosses happy.

If you want to change the direction of the conference front office get your alma matter's board of regents or governors to fire the current president and replace them with an activist that will put aside academia and apply pressure to change.

Not trolling, just wondering. After the 1-8 bowl season, no national TV distribution and a lack of passion for football and other high revenue sports would seem to be a big problem in going forward.

I'd put that 1-8 record on the coaches.