The Pac-12 completed its two-step leadership change Monday morning, promoting deputy Teresa Gould to the role of commissioner.
The move comes three days after the announced dismissal of George Kliavkoff — officially, the conference called the decision a “mutual” parting of the ways — and was fully expected across the conference and college sports.
Gould assumes office on March 1, one day after Kliavkoff departs. The terms of her agreement were not disclosed.
Gould’s compensation is not listed on the most recent Pac-12 financial reports (for the 2022 fiscal year), meaning she was not one of the conference’s top-paid employees in her role as deputy commissioner. Kliavkoff’s annual salary was believed to be approximately $3.5 million.
“Teresa’s deep knowledge of collegiate athletics and unwavering commitment to student-athletes makes her uniquely qualified to help guide the Pac-12 Conference during this period of unprecedented change in college sports,” Washington State president Kirk Schulz, chair of the Pac-12 board, said in announcing the move.
Gould has served as a top executive for five-and-a-half years, overseeing a bevy of sports and internal operations. She has significant on-campus experience, as well, having been an interim athletic director at UC Davis and a longtime lieutenant at Cal.
She will become the first female commissioner of a Power Five conference. (In NCAA parlance, the applicable term is ‘Autonomy Five’ conference.) However, it’s a dramatically scaled-down version of the entity that has existed for the past 109 years.
Schulz and Oregon State’s Jayathi Murthy constitute the entirety of the Pac-12’s governing board as 10 schools plan to depart this summer for other leagues.
Schulz and Murthy made the decision to part ways with Kliavkoff, although they were required by a court order to notify the 10 outbound presidents in advance.
The same process applied to Gould’s appointment.
She will work closely…
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