Tag: George Kilavkoff

Five takeaways from George Kilavkoff’s Pac-12 Media Day remarks

Here are five takeaways from George Kilavkoff’s remarks during Pac-12 media day

After not hearing much from him in recent weeks, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff entered Friday’s football media day during one of the most complicated times in the conference’s history.

The second-year commish still spoke confidently on media rights negotiations, the potential for expansion and a few other important topics with the start of the college football season about one month away.

Kilavkoff is betting on his own conference, and that was honestly an encouraging sight. Colorado AD Rick George, the last time he spoke, was also bullish on the Pac-12’s ability to stay together and weather the storm.

Here are my five biggest takeaways from what Kilavkoff shared:

Rick George believes trust is present among remaining Pac-12 schools

Rick George said the Pac-12’s main focus moving forward is keeping the remaining schools aligned

After USC and UCLA dashed for the Big Ten, you’d think that the remaining Pac-12 schools would be left with some trust issues. Colorado athletic director Rick George, however, sees mostly transparency during recent discussions with his now-nine other counterparts.

George spoke with the media on Wednesday and said the Pac-12’s current loyalists are aiming to stay aligned, though it’s not yet clear if that means committing to the Pac-12 or joining another conference. While George said “everything is on the table,” keeping the band together seems to be the prevailing focus.

“We trust the people in the room and we have to,” George said. “We look each other in the eye — we’re not in person, but we’re on Zoom — we see each other and we talk through it. I think when this initially happened, there was some concern and there was a reaction to the news that went out there just like you all had a reaction. But again, I always think that cooler heads prevail. Once we had an opportunity as a group to sit down and talk through where we were, to make sure that we were aligned in where we wanted to go, I think it’s been really helpful for us.”

Colorado’s nine-year AD also commended Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff on his handling of the situation.

To add another layer to the conference’s alignment, George was asked if CU has had a closer relationship with Utah throughout this process, which was at least the thought from outsiders. Despite joining the Pac-12 together and sharing a geographical connection, he confirmed that wasn’t the case; rather, he reiterated a 10-team commitment.

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Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff visits Folsom Field for CU-Minnesota

In-Game Reading: Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff at Folsom for CU-Minnesota

For the second time in about a month, new Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff paid a visit to Boulder. Kilavkoff, who was accompanied by Colorado Athletic Director Rick George, spoke with the media prior to Colorado’s Week 3 contest against Minnesota.

“We’ve been running around meeting with donors and alumni and fans and it’s just a beautiful, beautiful campus,” Kilavkoff said. “I got a lot more impressions when I was here for two days, and actually got to meet with a bunch of the constituents. What I would say is I was most impressed by is our student-athletes. It kind of blew me away.”

He added that his goal is to visit every Pac-12 school for a football game this season. So far, Kilavkoff has been present for UCLA beating a ranked LSU team and Oregon upsetting Ohio State. “I’m hoping to bring a little bit of luck for the Buffs,” he said.

Among other things, Kilavkoff discussed a potential 8-1-1 scheduling format for future Pac-12 football seasons. This would mean eight conference games, one ACC game and one Big Ten game. The other two non-conference games would be decided by the school. Kilavkoff called the new scheduling format the “North Star” of the recently announced alliance between the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten.

Kilavkoff replaced longtime Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott in May.