Will he resign? George Kliavkoff responds to questions about his Pac-12 leadership, future
George Kliavkoff and the future of the Pac-12 are in focus since there was an exodus of programs to the B1G and Big 12 last week.
Kliavkoff, the Pac-12 commissioner, has faced leadership questions for nearly his entire tenure as the leader of the conference. Now that Oregon and Washington are headed to the B1G, and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are going to the Big 12, Kliavkoff was asked by Jon Wilner of the Mercury News about his future. Would he resign?
“I’m loyal to a fault (and probably to my personal detriment),” Kliavkoff said. “Had plenty of chances to leave over the past 2 years when the breadth of the challenges were already obvious and decided to stick it out and try to do the best I could. We still have a lot of work ahead of us to try and minimize the impact on the student athletes, and I’m still committed to that.”
The largest issue for Kliavkoff was a long-awaited media rights deal which Kliavkoff presented last week, but it wasn’t enough to sway the conference’s at-the-time 9 remaining members. Shortly after the deal was presented, the exodus began.
And aside from the lame duck season ahead, there are questions and concerns about the future of the so-called Pac-4 of California, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State.