Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff spoke to the media for the first time on July 27 since losing USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. As you’d expect, questions about conference realignment were frequent — there wasn’t much room to dodge those bullets.
Overall, though, Kliavkoff appeared calm. He was even able to throw some shade on the Big 12.
Our friends at Trojans Wire have written plenty on the Pac-12’s situation and managing editor Matt Zemek offered his take on Kliavkoff’s approach to media day in the midst of these wild times. Zemek was also quick to remind everyone that Larry Scott’s tenure is still impacting the conference today:
Whether it’s the fear of being raided by the Big 12, or the lack of buy-in from USC over the past 12 months, or the uncertainty about a new media rights deal, or any of several other topics, the Pac-12 is a very unsettled conference. This is a very nervous community which is fighting for stability and survival.
George Kliavkoff was feisty and defiant at Pac-12 media day last Friday, but he was also exhausted and upset. Clearly, a lot of realities on the ground point to a deeply unstable situation left behind by Larry Scott. Kliavkoff could have made some overtures to attempt to reverse this situation, but the more one reads and learns about everything we’ve seen in the conference over the past several months, the more one realizes: Nope, Kliavkoff simply could not have prevented this USC-UCLA train from leaving the station.
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