Hotline newsletter: The good, bad and worse of the Pac-12 performance bonuses
*** The Pac-12 Hotline newsletter is published each Monday-Wednesday-Friday during the college sports season and twice-a-week in the summer. (Sign up here for a free subscription.) This edition, from Sept. 22, has been made available in archived form.
Bonus Coverage on the Bonuses
The Hotline reported Monday that the Pac-12 paid performance bonuses in July for the prior fiscal year despite the all-too-real possibility that a disrupted football season would prompt significant staff downsizing.
And sure enough, half of the 190 employees in San Francisco were furloughed or laid off one month later.
To be clear: We reported the news, in as fair-and-balanced fashion as possible.
The Hotline offered no opinion on the matter … until now.
Yes, we have a few thoughts on BonusGate, starting with this: There are layers, and the layers are worth dissecting.
Layer One: The Benefits
The performance bonuses are typically paid to the conference executives in July and to the Pac-12 Networks staff in September.
The former collected their checks as normal this summer, while the latter had their payments accelerated by two months.
Reaction was somewhat mixed, based on the half-dozen interviews conducted during our reporting process.
The employee who acknowledged getting a bonus in the $10,000 range expressed skepticism about the larger motivation, saying he believed everything was orchestrated to avoid awful optics that would come with bonuses being paid after layoffs and furloughs.
But another employee was willing to look past the optics and focus on the practical benefits — that many (perhaps dozens) of employees received thousands of dollars in bonus payments prior to the downsizing.
We don’t know how many of those laid off or furloughed received bonuses, but it’s believed to be a substantial amount. The money has helped them.
And therein lies a component worth acknowledging: The Pac-12 did the right thing for networks staffers below the executive level.
Layer Two: The Cost
If only the Pac-12 had stopped there, it would have been a PR victory.
If only commissioner Larry Scott had arranged for accelerated bonuses for the networks staff and not approved huge bonus payments for himself and his executive staff.
The Hotline has written about Scott’s compensation many times over the years, and we’ve never criticized him. You get what you can get, right? I wouldn’t turn down $5 million per year, either.
(We’ve also been complimentary of his performance during the pandemic.)
But in this case, he missed badly. There is no way to frame it otherwise.
And the current storm, while separate from the momentous process of returning Pac-12 football to the field this fall, feels like it won’t quickly subside.
This is going to stick. It’s going to stick at HQ when everyone returns to the office, and it’s going to stick on the campuses.
Here’s why:
When Scott announced the initial round of salary reductions for the senior staff in April — and then a second round in July (for the full 2020-21 academic year) — he explained the reductions were set to track moves on the campuses: The pay cuts taken by athletic directors and presidents/chancellors.
“We were asked by our schools to look at what they were doing and adopt a similar policy,’’ Scott told the Hotline in July. “The CFOs came up with the methodology.”
Which leaves two options with regard to the performance bonuses:
1) The presidents and athletic directors also took their performance bonuses for FY20 (a question that should be asked in light of these events), or
2) Scott and his senior staff — remember, they are supposed to work for the schools — took substantial bonuses during a pandemic when the CEOs and ADs took a hard pass.
How’s that going to play on the campuses?
Layer Three: The Analysis
Let’s be clear on this: #BonusGate is merely a symptom.
The larger issue here — the larger issue for so many of the missteps in San Francisco over the years — is the lack of oversight from the folks in charge.
The Pac-12 presidents and chancellors hired Scott, then handed him the authority and the contract and the budget to run the conference office as he saw fit.
(In particular: Arizona State’s Michael Crow, who led the hiring process, negotiated the contract, and has supported Scott through all these years.)
The Scott saw fit was to run the conference like a professional league. Makes sense: That was his background (in the WTA).
The downtown San Francisco office, the executive team hired from the professional world, the centralized authority, the reporting structure with Scott as commissioner and the presidents as the team owners — it’s all very much like a pro league.
And his bosses were fine with that.
Direct as much wrath at Scott as you want — and in the case of the executive bonuses, it’s warranted, in our opinion.
But don’t forget that responsibility ultimately falls on the presidents and chancellors who, in the early years of Scott’s tenure, framed the entire governance structure of the conference. (Two of them, Crow and UCLA’s Gene Block, are sill in place.)
If you want to point fingers, point them at the people in charge. — Jon Wilner.
Hot off the Hotline
• The presidents and chancellors didn’t vote on a return-to-play plan late last week, leaving the conference in limbo until the next meeting (Thursday).
• The delay sparked deep frustration, for the first time in the pandemic, especially on the campuses that believe they will be ready to play on Halloween. Our opinion, the CEOs should let them play, if they can do it safely — and even if some teams aren’t ready.
• In the aftermath of the delay, a conference source told the Hotline that a plan existed to start the season in late October, even if just six teams took the field. The Arizona, Mountain and Washington schools, which have been operating under different circumstances than their peers in Oregon and California, seemingly could be ready to play.
• On Monday, the Hotline reported on BonusGate.
ICYMI: The Friday newsletter addressed the Pac-12’s prospects for the College Football Playoff. It’s much more likely to cash in than it is to participate. Previous editions of the newsletter are available in archived form.
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In the News
(Note: The Hotline newsletter includes links to sites that could require a subscription once the number of free views has been reached.)
• Oregonian columnist John Canzano was highly critical of Scott’s decision to take his bonus this summer, prior to the layoffs and furloughs. “There’s just no justification for paying out millions in bloated bonuses to the highly compensated executive team that remained employed by the Pac-12 after the bloodbath. It’s a move right out of Gordon Gekko’s playbook.”
• Could the Mountain West return before the Pac-12? Yahoo’s Pete Thamel has the details. (If so, it would be an optics nightmare for the Pac-12.)
• Cal quarterback Chase Garbers believes the Bears could ramp up quickly if given approval. “We’ve all been staying ready,” he told CalBearsMaven.
• Arizona has lost edge rusher Kylan Wilborn, who announced he was entering the transfer portal. He’s the fourth would-be defensive starter to leave the Wildcats this year.
• USC has options to fill holes on the offensive line, but shuffling is inevitable after Alijah Vera-Tucker’s decision to opt out.
On the basketball front:
• Colorado picked up its fourth commitment of the current recruiting cycle — an important move for the Buffaloes given the senior-loaded roster for the upcoming season.
• Sean Miller has a lot of new players but limited in-person contact with them. He offered up some insights into Arizona’s roster and rotation for 2020-21.
• Not specific to the Pac-12: Good look at the latest on early-season basketball tournaments from CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. Las Vegas is a frontrunner to provide a bubble environment for potentially dozens of teams.
Looking Ahead
What’s coming on the Pac-12 Hotline:
• How did the Pac-12’s partnership with Quidel come to be? They needed each other.
• We’ll have coverage of the CEO meeting Thursday. If there’s not a vote, something has gone wrong (and that’s entirely possible).
The next newsletter is scheduled for Friday. Enjoy it? Please forward this email to friends (sign up here). If you don’t, or have other feedback, let me know: pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.