Pac-12 to part ways with Larry Scott

The Pac-12 Conference announced the contract for Commissioner Larry Scott won’t be renewed, ended his 11-year tenure on June 30, 2021.

An executive committee for the conference and Scott mutually agreed to part ways to “allow a new commissioner to be in place to negotiate and maximize the Conference’s next important long-term media rights agreement.” He has agreed to help with the transition and finding a new commissioner in the interim.

University presidents Michael Schill (Oregon), Kirk H. Schulz (Washington State) and Ana Mari Cauce (Washington) will immediately commence a national search for Scott’s replacement as commissioner.

“We appreciate Larry’s pioneering efforts in growing the conference by adding new competitive university programs and accelerating the Pac-12 to television network parity with the other conferences,” said Schill.

“At one point, our television agreement was the most lucrative in the nation and the debut of the Pac-12 Network helped deliver our championship brand to US and global markets on traditional and digital platforms. That said, the intercollegiate athletics marketplace doesn’t remain static and now is a good time to bring in a new leader who will help us develop our go-forward strategy.”

Scott will leave a his mark on the Pac-12. Colorado and Utah joined the conference under his watch in 2010 and developed the conference into being more competitive. He instituted an equal revenue sharing for the first time in the Conference’s history, one of the advantages for postseason play in all sports. He secured television rights deals with ESPN and FOX for guaranteed revenue. Scott also pushed to created two football divisions and established a conference championship game.

Regardless, the Pac-12 has gone 16 years without a football national title and a 24-year streak without a men’s basketball national title. Oregon and Washington were the only teams to ever to make the College Football Playoff, in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Outside of sports, the Pac-12 has improved in graduation rates as measured by the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate (GSR). “With 90% of the NCAA Division I student-athletes now achieving graduation during the measured period, the Pac-12 experienced improvements across the Conference, with some member institutions and athletic programs achieving 100% graduation rates among student-athletes in specific sports programs.”

Scott joins Jim Delany from the Big Ten and John Swofford from the ACC as Power 5 commissioners leaving their jobs within the last year. The Pac-12’s commissioner was the only one of the three not to leave on his own terms.