Utah’s Nick Ford Has ‘No Respect’ For Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott
Aug 12, 2020, 9:56 AM
Nick Ford #55 of the Utah Utes warms up before their game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Pac-12 is not playing football today after the league unanimously voted to cancel fall athletics.
They are attempting to possibly play in the Spring.
The main concern that led to the cancelation was player safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. An outbreak was certainly a possibility with the close contact required to play football.
Utah offensive lineman Nick Ford is Utah’s spokesman for the #WeAreUnited movement, and he was part of the response sent to the conference voicing their concerns about how the Pac-12 wasn’t really doing the things necessary to keep players safe.
“It is obvious that the Pac-12 was woefully unprepared to protect college athlete safety in response to COVID-19 and could not address the basic and essential safety demands made by #WeAreUnited,” the letter stated. “After haphazardly trying to place the health of college athletes in jeopardy by having a season without safety mandates, the Pac-12 abruptly canceled the season with no transparency and no communication with the college athletes impacted.
“The Pac-12’s failures have made it clear that the time for changes is now. The system is broken. College athletes deserve and need a real voice in the form of a players association.”
Pac-12 players on the conference’s cancellation of sports for the rest of 2020 #WeAreUnited pic.twitter.com/kGUIfq7SJA
— Laine Higgins (@lainehiggins17) August 12, 2020
No Love Lost For Larry Scott
The letter was straightforward from the group of players, but Utah’s Ford joined KSL Unrivaled and was even more forceful in his words regarding Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and how he was condescending to the athletes.
“We just wanted some clarity for what Larry Scott said and also what my athletic director said, which are two positions of power, who I play for,” Ford said. “I am supposed to have a lot of respect for both of them. I do for Mark Harlan. He’s a great man. I love that guy.
“I have no respect left for Larry Scott after saying that remark to me which is completely disrespectful and uncalled for in a business-like environment. I personally don’t think he truly wanted to give us the time of day. It took a while for him to come across to us and then when he finally talked to us, he gave his whole seal and closed for a while. And it didn’t really seem like he addressed what we were talking about unless it was met with, you know, an attitude or a mark.”
Utah offensive lineman Nick Ford is not a fan of Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott. pic.twitter.com/piNrKuk3WZ
— KSL Unrivaled (@KSLunrivaled) August 12, 2020
Ford is one of many Pac-12 athletes that wanted to have a fall season and it has to be frustrating to put time and effort into a movement that he and many others believe in and then just get was essentially a pity meeting to discuss what they were looking for.
The athletes wanted to know they were being protected while participating in their respective sport during a global pandemic, and the Pac-12 players did not feel the league was doing enough to assist in that manner. There are still a lot of unknowns with COVID-19 – specifically when it comes to long-term health issues – so the league had to be cautious of that and that was part of the decision to shut the fall season down.
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