“We’ve got some CEOs new to this environment with angry sports blogger mob…”

If you ever wonder how in the world Larry Scott is still gainfully employed as a conference commissioner, read this unbelievable story about how the conference circled the wagons after the recent officiating scandal, and you will wonder no more.

Oregon State president Ed Ray responded to the group:

“We have no interest in letting others define us. We do have so much to be proud of … I have seen no adverse impact of sportswriter nastiness among supporters of the university. We should talk about seizing the communications initiative in the sports world. I think some of your concern is probably due to having to deal continually with the characters who populate sports media.”

These people deserve each other.

Their cluelessness would ordinarily be amusing, except these are some of the idiots running college athletics into the ground.

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“Larry is a lavish guy; he likes extravagance…”

Now this is something.

Scott makes far more than Oregon State president Edward Ray ($588,000) and Oregon’s Michael Schill ($674,000). In fact, the commissioner makes more than any of the Pac-12 Conference head football coaches.

Scott is also paid more than Greg Sankey, the Southeastern Conference commissioner, who makes $1.9 million a year by comparison. Also, Scott makes more than Jim Delany, the Big Ten Conference commissioner, who brings home $2.4 million a year.

Sankey makes less than all 14 head football coaches in the SEC.

Larry Scott may not be much of a commissioner, but it sure seems like he’s a helluva salesman.

Is it really that hard to say, “we screwed up”?

Eh, who am I kidding here?  This is the visionary Larry Scott we’re talking about after Pac-12 athletic directors were forced to step in and clean up the instant replay mess his office created.

“It is clear that a mistake was made and that action needed to be taken, as nothing is more important than the safety of our student-athletes and the integrity of our competition,” Scott said in a statement. “We have been leaders in both of these essential areas. We are determined to learn from this episode and strengthen our officiating processes as a result.”

“… a mistake was made”.  Is there anything more chicken shit than hiding behind the passive tense when you fuck up?

Gosh, I hope this whole unfortunate episode doesn’t come back to bite ol’ Larry in the butt when it comes time for his next review.

Larry Scott knows nothing.

Boy, this is embarrassing.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott doubled down on Saturday night.

Late last week, when asked if the conference instant-replay policy existed anywhere in writing, Scott said, “I don’t know if there’s a manual or not, but there’s a well-established procedure.”

On Saturday, Scott said to media in Pullman for the Oregon-Washington State game: “I had a chance to look into it … there’s an NCAA rule in writing, but there is no manual. I’m not aware of any manual that exists in our conference or nationally.”

Turns out, Scott is wrong. The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained a printed copy of the 2018 version of that instant-replay manual, titled: “The Pac-12 Conference Instant Replay Manual.”

First Rule of Holes, Larry baby.

Another reason to keep your mouth shut is because the manual itself is nothing to write home about.

A close examination of the 11-page publication could help explain why the conference finds itself embroiled in this instant-replay public-relations nightmare in the first place. The conference replay manual doesn’t include vital components of the instant-replay procedure, is ambiguous and leaves a wide berth for interpretation and instruction that comes from the Pac-12’s centralized command center.

Eh, minor details.

On Saturday, Scott said he doesn’t believe the conference has a credibility issue.

Right.

This guy is the highest paid conference commissioner in the country.  Pac-12, I could do the job without showing my ass (or yours, for that matter) for half the price.  I suspect you could open the phone book and choose a name at random who could do the same.

“Why can’t I help wondering, if you’re trying to manipulate wins and losses?”

Mike Leach ain’t never played ‘Bama, PAWWWLLL.

If he had, his head would probably explode.

When Week 2 hot takes cool off

Hey, remember when Arizona State got off to that 2-0 start and pundits were gleefully telling folks that we’d underestimated the Herm Edwards experiment?

Arizona State with a brutal final play in a loss to Stanford. https://t.co/02lnlSZgxZ

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) October 19, 2018

Good times, those.  The Sun Devils are 1-4 since then.

Larry Scott surveys all he sees and pronounces it good.

Man, this is something.

In the wake of a report that Pac-12 leadership has influenced decision-making during the replay process of football games, commissioner Larry Scott announced an immediate change that will prevent any real-time involvement from conference leadership moving forward.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve made mistakes in terms of our procedures involved with replay review in the command center,” Scott said. “We nixed administrative oversight and leadership with real-time replay review calls made by our experts on the field, in the stadium and in the command center.”

An instant-replay booth report obtained by Yahoo Sports said a “third party” “did not agree” with the booth’s and the command center’s decision to call targeting in the USC–Washington State game on Sept. 21, resulting in targeting not being called.

Yahoo identified that third-party as Woodie Dixon, the Pac-12’s general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs, whose involvement was confirmed Thursday by Scott at the conference’s Pac-12 men’s basketball media day.

It’s bad enough that there’s questionable officiating throughout college football, but now we’ve got some untrained suit putting his thumb on the scale — I mean, what could go wrong here?

Evidently, not much in the eyes of Commissioner Scott.

Scott indicated there would be no punishment for anyone involved in the process and that the policy change “is the most significant, strong response” he could imagine at this stage. He said he was confident there was “no mal-intent” by those involved and that Dixon, who oversees football for the Pac-12, did not believe he was dictating to the replay official what call should be made.

Well, thank goodness his heart was pure.  I’d hate to see anyone held accountable.