SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, who yesterday announced his retirement, "led a period of unprecedented success for the conference," which included "engineering landmark television contracts and the launch of a conference network [and] welcoming Texas A&M and Missouri into an expanded 14-team league," according to Mike Herndon of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. Slive will retire on July 31, 2015, as he "begins treatment for a recurrence of prostate cancer for which he was treated" in the late '90s. Slive in a statement said, "I have been blessed in more ways than I can count and I will have as much passion for this job on my last day as I did on my first." Slive's medical condition "was diagnosed before a surgical procedure on his back in August." His prognosis "is good and he will continue to carry out his responsibilities from the SEC Office and his home office in Birmingham ... though his travel and appearances may be limited." Slive, who has led the SEC for 13 years, will "serve in the role of consultant to the conference for four years after his retirement." Vanderbilt Chancellor Nick Zeppos said that a "national search for Slive's successor will begin this fall" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 10/15). In St. Louis, Dave Matter notes Slive also was the founding commissioner for Conference USA from '95-'02 and was the first commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference upon its founding in '91. Slive also was the "founder of a law firm which assisted NCAA institutions in compliance matters" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/15). The AP's Ralph Russo noted even with the news of Slive's health issues, his retirement at this point "comes as no shock." While he had "given no timetable for his exit in recent years, he had hinted that getting the SEC Network off the ground could be his last big project." Slive has "become one of the most powerful figures in college sports." Under his leadership, the SEC "became the nation's most premier football conference," and "dug out from under a pile of NCAA compliance issues" (AP, 10/14).
TIME TO TAKE IT IN: YAHOO SPORTS' Pat Forde wrote Slive "deserves many years of sitting back and watching the changes he championed come to fruition." He "didn’t fire the first shot in realignment and he wasn’t the first commissioner to launch a conference television network, but the SEC is even stronger and more profitable today due to Slive’s savvy navigating of those turbulent waters." It has been a "remarkable run after an improbable marriage of man and conference." When the league replaced Roy Kramer in '02, the "natural fit certainly didn’t seem to be a Jewish lawyer from the Northeast with an Ivy League undergraduate degree." But 12 years later, Slive and the SEC "go together like chicken and waffles." Forde: "It’s truly amazing" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/14). Kramer said Slive has had a "tremendous run as the commissioner." ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit said Slive "deserves a lot of credit" for the SEC's excellence, as he had "as much to say about what direction we go with intercollegiate athletics as anybody" ("SEC Now," SEC Network, 10/14).
RETURN TO PROMINENCE: In N.Y., Tracy & Zinser note the SEC during Slive’s tenure "rose to pre-eminence in football" as the sport of college football "grew more lucrative." Slive also was "central to pushing for the College Football Playoff." CFP Exec Dir Bill Hancock: "Mike got together with the other gentlemen to craft a consensus that ultimately was put into place. He has been a real, true leader" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/15). FOXSPORTS.com's Stewart Mandel wrote it is "hard to imagine a league transforming its image more dramatically in a short time than the SEC did under Slive." The SEC "has its own internal headaches what with the sometimes disparate interests of coaches, athletic directors and presidents, but it’s gained only more stability due to the unofficial diplomat role that Slive, a self-described 'recovering lawyer,' plays to perfection." Mississippi State AD Scott Stricklin: "No matter what room he’s in, he’s always the smartest guy in the room. We’re fortunate he chose college athletics as a career because he could have been successful in anything" (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/14). SI.com's Martin Rickman noted many college football fans "joke or claim media bias toward the SEC, but none of that would happen had Slive not turned the conference into such a national powerhouse over the course of his term as commissioner" (SI.com, 10/14).
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: ESPN's Paul Finebaum said of Slive, "When I think of his career, I think of him as one of the most influential people in the history of intercollegiate athletics. As we stand today, he's the most influential person in college athletics" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 10/14). In Birmingham, Kevin Scarbinsky writes Slive was "more interested in getting ... major moves right than in making them first. Mission accomplished, don't you think?" With Slive presiding, this "old collection of regional rivalries has transformed into a national brand unrivaled in intercollegiate athletics" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 10/15). CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said of Slive, "Mike has been a terrific business partner and an even better friend. He leaves the SEC as not only a remarkably successful conference, but also one that is perfectly positioned for the future" (THE DAILY). In Alabama, Duane Rankin writes Slive is one of the "most significant conference commissioners ever," guiding the SEC to "seven consecutive BCS national titles in football during his 13 years" as commissioner. The SEC "won a total of 67 national championships in 15 of its 21 sponsored sports with Slive at the head of it" (MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER, 10/15). CBSSPORTS.com's Jon Solomon wrote, "Cautious, pragmatic, meticulous and tough are the words most associated with Slive from people who sat across the table from him in negotiations." It is "easy to forget now, but the SEC wasn't always the SEC as college football knows it today." There was a "national flavor to it, for sure," but the conference "was very much a regional entity." Nothing Slive achieved was "more important than having the SEC consistently avoid major NCAA penalties" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/14). ESPN's Brent Musburger said he was "stunned" about Slive's retirement announcement, as he will be "almost impossible to replace." Musburger: "He's done one of the great jobs of being the commissioner during a tumultuous era in the history of college football." Musburger added, "I think the world of him personally, to tell you the truth, and I think the entire conference does" ("SEC Now, SEC Network, 10/14).
KICKING IT UP A NOTCH: ESPN.com's Chris Low wrote Slive "knows how to run a business," and "make no mistake, college sports is a business." If Slive "wanted something, he usually got it." Low: "Case in point: The SEC has become the envy of college sports on his watch, and when Slive retires ... he’ll do so knowing his 13 years on the job have helped reshape the landscape of college athletics as we know it in more ways than we can possibly count" (ESPN.com, 10/14). In Lexington, John Clay writes Kramer "may have been the most influential commissioner in SEC history," but Slive "took the league to another level" (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 10/15). CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd wrote the SEC will "continue to be great and glorious, but we will never have these times again." Before Slive, there "wasn't jealously and flat-out hate at what the SEC had become -- a giant." Before Slive, "no conference had even come close to dominating" college football. Football Bowl Association Exec Dir Wright Waters: "It's because his vision of what the SEC Network could do (to) put enough money in Mississippi State and Ole Miss to build enough facilities, to hire Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze. That puts the competition back on the field and keeps the rich from getting richer and poor from getting poorer." Dodd noted in that sense, Slive's "greatest contribution may be indirect benevolent revenue sharing" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/14).
