On Thursday afternoon, Ed Scott, Memphis’ newly appointed athletic director, spoke with the media at the Penny Hardaway Hall of Fame.
At the beginning of Scott’s press conference, he was asked the question that’s been on everyone’s mind: Why did Memphis decline an invite to the Pac-12?
For Scott, it was a three-pronged approach.
First, the Pac did not meet the financials.
Memphis’ AAC exit fee was $25 million, while the Pac was only willing to pay $2.5 million to acquire Memphis despite its reported “war chest” of money.
Second, Scott understands the emotions felt by Memphis fans.
Many fans wanted change for the sake of change. The fanbase is weary of playing in a weakened AAC.
“I’m still learning about the emotional scars that Memphis feels from being left out of some other conferences,” Scott said. “I know there are some people who feel a way, emotionally, about the decision. But they don’t know all the information.”
“While I’m the athletic director at Memphis, I’m not going to make decisions out of scarcity or desperation,” Scott said.
“Lastly, it really came down to what our future looks like,” said Scott. “In 5-6 years, almost all the major media rights deals are coming up…We need to be cognizant of that and what that landscape will look like.”
After that, Scott said something sure to fire up the Memphis faithful: “We didn’t say no to Memphis’ future; we said no to a deal we thought was bad.”
Scott also twice stated that he’s always answering phone calls: first, when asked if the program would consider a Pac-12 invite in the future, and second, if Memphis had approached the Big East conference.
For Scott and the rest of Memphis’ administration, it comes down to this: “We didn’t say no to Memphis’ future; we said no to a deal we thought was bad.”
Scott began his duties as athletic director in late July. In those two months, Memphis has mulled (and declined) an invite to the Pac-12 conference, had an exuberant turnover on the men’s basketball coaching staff, and announced the Hoops for St. Jude Classic, where both women’s and men’s basketball will take on a storied program from the Carolina’s.
Reach Rivals contributor Sam Shoemaker on X @s_shoemaker52
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