Larry Scott, Pac-12 executive board started the downfall of the once-proud conference

The future of the Pac-12 may have seemed bleak a year ago when UCLA and USC declared their intention to bolt in favor of a more lucrative pay out from the Big Ten. But in reality, the conference started turning into a dumpster fire earlier than that — and it did so on Larry Scott's watch.

Scott was appointed Pac-12 commissioner in 2009 and was forced out in January of 2021 with a year left on his contract. He pocketed $50 million during that tenure, including a lucrative severance buyout. He came to the conference after serving as chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association, which he headed from 2003-09. He had a very brief career as a tennis player, reaching a career high ranking of No. 210 and was 1-18.

Somehow, the Pac-12's executive board, consisting of conference presidents and chancellors, thought that qualified Scott to administer a Power Five conference. So that board bears much of the blame, too — not just for hiring Scott in the first place, but for keeping him in power as long as it did. Arizona State President Michael Crow was among Scott's most ardent supporters.

That exorbitant salary didn't just make Scott the highest-paid commissioner, it did so by a wide margin — more than the Big Ten and SEC commissioners combined. Scott spent money as if it were growing on trees. He booked $7,500-a-night suites in Las Vegas and traveled by private jet for business.

He moved the conference into a swanky headquarters in downtown San Francisco that cost a reported $696,000 a month. That's more than twice what the SEC pays for its office in Birmingham, Alabama; the Big Ten checks in at $1.5 million a year for a suburban Chicago main office and a small New York office.

The Pac-12 Network that debuted under Scott's tenure also turned out to be a colossal disaster, mainly because of its lack of distribution, and also Scott insisting on not having it available on Direct TV.

And those were just the financial indiscretions.

Scott delayed the 2020 football season to November for stated COVID-19 pandemic reasons that others scoffed at, costing the conference teams games, players and postseason opportunities. Other major conferences didn't resort to that extreme.

In short, Scott did nothing to "elevate" the conference. It has had just two College Football Playoff qualifiers under his watch: Oregon (2015) and Washington (2017).

George Kliavkoff, whose background was in the Las Vegas entertainment industry, was handed the unenviable job of taking over the train wreck. No doubt it was a difficult job from the jump. Most gave him a pass for the first year as he tried to right the wrongs of his predecessor, but he has erred with his handling of potential expansion and the media-rights deal since the defection of the Los Angeles schools.

He got rid of the pricey headquarters in San Francisco. That was a good start. It was also the easiest short-term fix.

The minute the Los Angeles schools bailed, Kliavkoff should have aggressively sought replacements. San Diego State and SMU have been the rumored front runners for possible spots, but the "new" commissioner didn't move with any sense of urgency. When asked about that topic multiple times he cited the desire to get schools that were right from an "academic" and "cultural fit." That sounds nice, but football is the moneymaker for many universities, so it should have been a bigger factor.

When the Big 12 lost marquee brands Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, that conference wasted no time and added BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston, all effective this season, to boost membership to 14 schools from eight different states

If the Pac-12 had added two schools right away it would have sent out a clearer message of sustainability.

Then came what looks to be the final nail in the coffin for the "Conference of Champions" — the lack of a media rights deal. It is looking like Kliavkoff and the executive committee overvalued their product, saying many times in the past year they expected a deal close to what the Big 12 got, which is estimated to be a $31-million payout per school.

Apparently none of the major networks wanted to play ball with the Pac-12, which looks like it is going to settle for $20 million per school with games available on Apple TV. That deal hasn't finalized yet, and the longer it has dragged out the more bleak the outlook appears. There may be no more conference so that might not matter.

Now, San Diego State and SMU are not world beaters, but securing the Southern California and Dallas markets surely would have helped the media rights process. It can't be worse than being relegated to a streaming service.

And yes, USC and UCLA get a bit of the blame too. If they don't bolt, the Pac-12 probably doesn't implode, but it's clear they were looking out for their own interests. The fact they opted to leave means the leadership at those schools didn't have faith that the Pac-12 was going to resolve the myriad issues it was facing.

Big 12, Big Ten expansion predictions: Where will Pac-12 schools end up in realignment?

The final blow came just last week when Colorado declared its intent to return to the Big 12, the conference from which it came in 2011. Again, it was an indication that a school's leadership did not trust the Pac-12 leadership to navigate the delicate situation.

The dust appears to be settling, with all indications pointing to Oregon and Washington following lead of the Los Angeles schools to the Big Ten, and Arizona, ASU and Utah joining Colorado in a move of the "Four Corners" schools to the Big 12.

The leaves four schools in limbo: California, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State, although the first two could be headed to the Big Ten as it continues to mull over future expansion.

It is a disappointing, though not surprising, end for what once was a quality conference. It comes at a time when it looks like Pac-12 will be in the best competitive situation it has seen in years. USC, Oregon, Utah and Washington will likely be nationally ranked in preseason football polls with a fifth team, Oregon State, likely to get mention in at least one. Reasons for such optimism come from the best crop of quarterbacks the conference has fielded in at least the last decade.

So maybe there will be one last hurrah for the Conference of Champions, which Larry Scott let wither on his watch.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Downward spiral of Pac-12 Conference began on Larry Scott's watch