We don’t know exactly what was said in the room when the Pac-12 CEO Group interviewed George Kliavkoff for the job of Pac-12 commissioner a few years ago.
We don’t have a transcript of the dialogue between the Pac-12’s school chancellors and presidents and the people they interviewed to replace Larry Scott.
Yet, as the Pac-12 teeters on the brink of collapse, we can be very confident in saying this much: The job interview process did not go well. It wasn’t handled well. The Pac-12 CEO Group didn’t understand what kind of leader it needed, and George Kliavkoff didn’t fully grasp the dimensions of his situation.
People reading this might say, “But wait: George Kliavkoff took over the Pac-12 before USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten. No one could have anticipated they would leave.”
Narrowly, that might be true. However, the Pac-12 had suffered under Larry Scott. It was not in an advantageous position. Everyone knew it needed a better media rights deal. That’s why Kliavkoff was hired, regardless of whether USC stayed or left.
If you realize that Kliavkoff was supposed to be a dealmaker who got things done, we can look at the present moment and plainly say he hasn’t lived up to that standard. In this regard, he failed to grasp what was needed in the moment.
Let’s talk more about this as “Pac-12 death watch” intensifies: