SEC Commissioner Mike Slive on Friday announced that he would "step down from his post" today to let Greg Sankey's era as commissioner "begin early," according to Natalie Pierre of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. Slive, who made the announcement following the league's spring meetings, will "spend the next two months serving in an advisory role for the SEC." His contract "expires on July 31, which is when he was initially scheduled to retire." Beginning on Aug. 1, he will "begin his role as a consultant to the SEC for a period of four years" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 5/30). Slive: "This is the right time and the right place. This has been the best 13 years of my life" (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 5/30). Slive said, "It's a good breakpoint, considering the issues I worked on and the issues Greg will face." He added that the SEC's week-long meetings "were an emotional occasion for him, admitting that he was brought to tears at one point." Slive: "The outpouring of the love and support that's gone on for me over the last couple of weeks is really quite gratifying" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/30).
RIDING OFF INTO THE SUNSET: In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais writes of Slive, "He's run the race. He's fought the fight. And he's going out on top." Slive’s decision to retire in October was "partially brought on by a recurrence of prostate cancer he first beat" in the '90s. But when asked if his health was a part of the decision to step down earlier than planned, he "gave a warm but firm no." Slive "insisted that the timing of his decision was what was best for the SEC." Slive "rarely pounded his bully pulpit but was the steady, grandfatherly, irresistible force pushing forward the things he thought were good and right for the SEC in particular and college athletics at large." By all accounts, he "was a superb CEO." He was "great at remembering names, engendered loyalty among his lieutenants and made sure the big decisions were ones that earned everyone’s input." SEC schools last week decided to "initiate a prostate cancer awareness campaign this football season in Slive’s honor, with teams wearing a blue sticker on their helmets at a home game of their choosing." Asked if he would consider a position on the CFP selection committee, Slive said, "I'm too partial to the SEC for that" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 6/1).
