Canzano: Door closing on George Kliavkoff's Pac-12 tenure
Where did the commissioner go wrong?
When George Kliavkoff was hired by the bosses of the Pac-12 Conference in the spring of 2021, the commissioner was described as warm, engaging, collaborative, and collegial.
The hire was a notable correction from Larry Scott, his predecessor. Scott was viewed as an aloof elitist who jettisoned around the conference footprint in a private jet, dined in five-star restaurants and refused to spend the night in places such as Pullman, Wash.
“George got us all to like him,” University of Oregon president Michael Schill said after the hire.
In hindsight, those amiable traits made Kliavkoff all wrong for the job of a new-world college commissioner. His tenure was marred by betrayal, back-biting, and dissension by the conference’s presidents and chancellors. Kliavkoff’s failure to manage his board became a glaring problem and his biggest misfire.
Above the board-room table, the Pac-12 CEO Group members smiled, discussed business, and plodded along, but below it, they had guns pointed at each other.
The Pac-12 imploded on Kliavkoff’s watch, leaving Oregon State and Washington State to pick up the pieces. His tenure has now reached an unceremonious end. The Pac-12 confirmed on Tuesday that it has begun the process of terminating Kliavkoff’s contract, one still worth approximately $8 million.
“A very nice guy,” one conference AD told me, “but George may be incompetent.”
Do you blame Kliavkoff for the downfall of the Pac-12? Or blame the conference presidents and chancellors? Is the commissioner a victim of unfortunate circumstances or did he inherit a losing hand from his predecessor, Scott?