Rivals.com
The explosion of college football - the huge growth in television revenue, the expansion and realignment of the old order of leagues, the move to NCAA autonomy - was going to happen, whether the SEC led the way or not. But thanks to Mike Slive's tenure as the league's commissioner, the SEC was out front, winning on the field and away from it in a way that made it the nation's dominant league an entity that Forbes Magazine recently called "the most successful organization in college sports history."
Slive won't be retiring from his job as SEC Commissioner for nearly a year, remaining in place until next year's SEC Media Days, which will certainly be a celebration of his accomplishments. There will be no shortage of candidates for what he has made into the most important job in college athletics (does anyone really want to argue that NCAA President Mark Emmert is an influential as Slive?) Some strong candidates will come from inside the SEC organization that Slive has built. But anyone will have a hard time replicating his achievements.
Roy Kramer, Slive's predecessor, had coasted along on the wave of inevitable growth. He also left a league plagued by NCAA troubles, and probably not as good, in football terms, as the Pac-12 or Big 12. Slive joined the league as commissioner in 2002 and started cleaning up the messes. He encouraged cooperation among league schools, avoiding the sort of partiality that marked Kramer's tenure. Slive, who came to the SEC from Conference USA, was a progressive thinker who could identify trends rather than waiting to react to them - a model CEO. He didn't solve every problem in the league - men's basketball could still be doing a better job of placing teams in the NCAA Tournament, for instance. He didn't make decisions that pleased every single fan base all of the time, because in a league with 12 (and eventually 14) members, that simply isn't possible. Even when a fan base didn't agree, it was rare - and wrong - to hear Slive accused of favoritism.
He spearheaded the movement that brought Texas A&M and Missouri into the league three years ago. At the time, some traditionalists grumbled. Now, they recognize that it opened two important markets to the SEC while at the same time weakening a rival league significantly. The expanded geographical footprint of the league in turn contributed to the success of the newly-launched SEC Network, a project that Slive worked on mightily, and one that he clearly considers his legacy.
Is he responsible for the latest football development in the league, the so-called "peasant rebellion" that has pushed often-downtrodden teams like Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky to the forefront of the league? Well, not exactly. Most of the credit rightfully goes to the institutions themselves. But they are riding the rising tide that lifts all boats, and the SEC's prosperity has helped those schools become more economically competitive in areas like building facilities and hiring coaches.
The challenges won't stop for the SEC. Now that the league (along with the other Power Five conferences) have achieved autonomy within the NCAA framework, there is still the large matter of translating that autonomy in ways that will benefit the student-athletes upon which the success of the SEC is built. But Slive was a master architect, and should be applauded for what he planned - and what he built during his tenure.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1692879
The explosion of college football - the huge growth in television revenue, the expansion and realignment of the old order of leagues, the move to NCAA autonomy - was going to happen, whether the SEC led the way or not. But thanks to Mike Slive's tenure as the league's commissioner, the SEC was out front, winning on the field and away from it in a way that made it the nation's dominant league an entity that Forbes Magazine recently called "the most successful organization in college sports history."
Slive won't be retiring from his job as SEC Commissioner for nearly a year, remaining in place until next year's SEC Media Days, which will certainly be a celebration of his accomplishments. There will be no shortage of candidates for what he has made into the most important job in college athletics (does anyone really want to argue that NCAA President Mark Emmert is an influential as Slive?) Some strong candidates will come from inside the SEC organization that Slive has built. But anyone will have a hard time replicating his achievements.
Roy Kramer, Slive's predecessor, had coasted along on the wave of inevitable growth. He also left a league plagued by NCAA troubles, and probably not as good, in football terms, as the Pac-12 or Big 12. Slive joined the league as commissioner in 2002 and started cleaning up the messes. He encouraged cooperation among league schools, avoiding the sort of partiality that marked Kramer's tenure. Slive, who came to the SEC from Conference USA, was a progressive thinker who could identify trends rather than waiting to react to them - a model CEO. He didn't solve every problem in the league - men's basketball could still be doing a better job of placing teams in the NCAA Tournament, for instance. He didn't make decisions that pleased every single fan base all of the time, because in a league with 12 (and eventually 14) members, that simply isn't possible. Even when a fan base didn't agree, it was rare - and wrong - to hear Slive accused of favoritism.
He spearheaded the movement that brought Texas A&M and Missouri into the league three years ago. At the time, some traditionalists grumbled. Now, they recognize that it opened two important markets to the SEC while at the same time weakening a rival league significantly. The expanded geographical footprint of the league in turn contributed to the success of the newly-launched SEC Network, a project that Slive worked on mightily, and one that he clearly considers his legacy.
Is he responsible for the latest football development in the league, the so-called "peasant rebellion" that has pushed often-downtrodden teams like Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky to the forefront of the league? Well, not exactly. Most of the credit rightfully goes to the institutions themselves. But they are riding the rising tide that lifts all boats, and the SEC's prosperity has helped those schools become more economically competitive in areas like building facilities and hiring coaches.
The challenges won't stop for the SEC. Now that the league (along with the other Power Five conferences) have achieved autonomy within the NCAA framework, there is still the large matter of translating that autonomy in ways that will benefit the student-athletes upon which the success of the SEC is built. But Slive was a master architect, and should be applauded for what he planned - and what he built during his tenure.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1692879
