After an extensive search the Pac-10 has named WTA CEO Larry Scott its new commissioner. The 44-year-old Scott will take over on July 1 when current commissioner Tom Hansen steps down. He is credited with transforming the WTA thanks to an $88 million contract with Sony Ericsson and several lucrative television agreements. It doesn't hurt there's a Harvard degree to go along with his name and resume.The Pac-10 arrived at Scott after it was revealed they were in pursuit of Sandy Alderson, current CEO of the San Diego Padres. This, after having been rebuffed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's Senior Vice President of basketball and business strategies.
Scott will step in at a critical time for the conference. It remains the major force in college athletics when you move beyond football and basketball, but those two sports pay most of the bills and the Pac-10's public perception isn't the strongest. The conference also has a maligned television deal in both sports and only one bowl game on or after January 1st -- the Rose Bowl. There's major work to be done while holding to strong demands from the school presidents to maintain and improve academic credentials within the various athletic departments.
It appears, buffetted by the following quote, that Scott stood out thanks to his work bringing television dollars to a sport just outside the American mainstream of football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
"Our search committee was most impressed with Larry's broad range of leadership experiences in both men's and women's sports, as well as his extensive success in representing the commercial interest of men's and women's tennis," Bob Bowlsby, athletic director of Stanford and head of the search committee, said in a statement.
"He was the architect of a highly-effective turnaround of women's tennis over the last six years and created a compelling vision that has served the sport and its athletes extremely well. We are also very pleased to bring on such a great advocate for both men's and women's sports."
Speaking broadly, Scott sounds like an excellent choice. However, he was clearly not the first or even second choice, perhaps falling much farther down the list as other candidates declined or were deemed unsuitable. He is, perhaps, the Hans Blix of the Pac-10. Or maybe he's Pete Carroll, the guy ignored until every other desired candidate fell off but was the right fit for the job. Here's hoping it's the latter.
