If the previous decade of leadership at the Pac-12 was defined by miscalculations on conference realignment, an inability to make its football product relevant in the national title discussion and a disastrous misreading of where sports television was headed, the league’s new leadership hasn’t done a thing to change the narrative.
If you want to give George Kliavkoff the benefit of the doubt roughly 1 1/2 years into his tenure as commissioner, go ahead. That’s apparently what the Pac-12 presidents are doing as they released a statement Monday expressing their solidarity and confidence in Kliavkoff’s ability to secure a media rights deal that will stabilize the league for at least the next several years.