You've probably read plenty of comments from Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott on potential conference expansion, but if you'd like to listen to him talk about such things, he gave a good interview to ESPN's Colin Cowherd today.
Scott has mostly been on-message since he took over last summer: His chief marching orders are trying to find ways to increase conference revenue and exposure.
His most critical and immediate task is the conference's upcoming TV and media contracts, which would begin in 2012. Because the Pac-10 is looking to cash in as best it can -- the SEC and Big Ten are the gold standards -- expansion is seriously on the table for the first time in years because it potentially could make the Pac-10 more enticing for network and media partners.
As for other topics, Cowherd asked what it would mean for the conference if USC football got hammered by NCAA sanctions.
Said Scott, "I don't expect that."
That response may be more than flip.
Keep in mind that the Pac-10 is the only conference that conducts its own investigations of potential member rules violations. Therefore, the conference probably has reviewed as much testimony and documentation from the USC case as the NCAA. Scott should have a fairly significant knowledge of what is going on, though he is new to college sports and is a neophyte when it comes to NCAA rules enforcement.
USC meets with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions will meet Feb. 19-21 in Tempe, Ariz. It will be six to eight weeks before the NCAA's verdict is made public.