After a tumultuous year, Pac-12 Conference There will be a new leader.
The Pac-12’s board of directors announced Friday that it and commissioner George Klyavkov have mutually agreed to step aside, effective Feb. 29.
PAC-12 Commissioner George Klyavkov looks on during the trophy ceremony for the PAC-12 Championship Game between the Oregon Ducks and the Washington Huskies at Allegiant Stadium on December 1, 2023 in Las Vegas. (Jevon Moore/ICON Sportswire via Getty Images)
“More details about the new PAC-12 leadership will be announced next week,” the conference said in a press release.
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The move is not surprising considering what has happened to the conference over the past several months.
In August, Colorado decided. to move to the Big 12, which triggered an avalanche of changes to the “Conference of Champions.”
Oregon and Washington chose to join USC and UCLA in the Big Ten, along with Arizona. Arizona State And Utah is headed to the Big 12.
The Washington Huskies will face the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Championship Game on December 1, 2023 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. (Rick Tapia/Getty Images)
On September 1, Stanford and Cal decided that the ACC would be a better conference for their future, leaving Oregon State. State of Washington As the only school still committed to the PAC-12.
The demise of the most influential and powerful conference on the West Coast was a seismic shift in college athletics.
“It was really sad to see,” the famous college football coach Dennis Erickson told the Palm Beach Post in August. “The thing that bothers me the most, besides the breakup of the conference, is the reasons for it. You get all these presidents who talk about academics and talk about loyalty and most importantly It’s that they move because of one thing… money.
“It had nothing to do with the education. It had nothing to do with the players. It had nothing to do with the school. It had to do with the money.”
Pac-12 Commissioner George Klyavkov speaks during Pac-12 Football Media Day at the Novo Theater on July 29, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Jevon Moore/ICON Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Pac-12 will operate as a two-team conference for the next two seasons beginning this year. Oregon State And the Washington State football program announced a six-game schedule agreement with the Mountain West in December.
Kliavkoff is a former MGM executive and was named Pac-12 commissioner in the spring of 2021.