SEC Meetings begin: Think expansion will come up?
Five Burning questions as we begin the annual SEC Spring Meetings this morning in Destin:
1. Do you think expansion will come up? It’s not on the agenda but it will be the 800-pound gorilla in the room. This will be Commissioner Mike Slive’s first opportunity to meet with his athletics directors, presidents, and coaches face to face and bring them up to date on what the conference is thinking. I met with the Commissioner last night and he said he would have no specifics coming out of these meetings. “What I will say is that if the paradigm in college athletics shifts (i.e., massive Big Ten expansion), we will be prepared to maintain our place in college athletics,” he said. So you can expect the press corps to ask it a bunch of different ways but the answer will not change this week.
Still, there is no question that the SEC has been doing its homework and will have a plan in place should the Big Ten expand to 16 teams later on this year. There was a report that the SEC has had conversations with CBS about specific teams it would invite, a report that the conference denied and my CBS sources denied. Hey, it’s a nervous time. Nothing will be done on expansion here, but it will sure come up.
2. Will the football coaches finally approve an early signing period? This is one of the things the football coaches bring up every year, get excited about, and finally can’t agree upon. College basketball has an early signing period in November for guys who know where they want to go to school and want to get the recruiting process over. There has been talk for years about creating one in December for football that mirrors the junior college signing window. This week it might get done. “So many schools are having guys graduate from high school early and come in January there is really no reason not to do it,” an SEC head coach told me last night. “It just makes too much sense.” The biggest plus to an early signing period is that schools don’t have to keep spending money in January just to “babysit” players who already want to sign. A ton of money is spent just making sure guys who have committed don’t change their minds or have their minds “changed” for them by aggressive recruiting down the stretch.
3. Is Mississippi State’s cowbell going to be banned? The SEC has long had a policy on artificial noisemakers at events but Mississippi State’s cowbell is such a tradition that the league not has cracked down hard on it. That might change this week. Kyle Veazey of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger wrote a great piece about the cowbell and its history.
How would you like to be Scott Stricklin? Stricklin, 40, was just named the athletics director at Mississippi State. He’s a Mississippi State grad. And now he has to walk into a room with his fellow athletics directors and fight for his school’s beloved cowbell.
4. Will basketball eliminate divisional play? Nope but there may be a change in the way the SEC Tournament is seeded. Last season the top four teams in the SEC East went 24-0 against the six teams in the SEC West. But when the conference basketball tournament began in Nashville, Tennessee and Florida had to play on the first day while Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who had lesser records but finished 1-2 in the West, got byes in the first round. That ain’t right. The SEC could solve this problem by following the Big 12 and ACC model and eliminating divisional play for basketball. But a head basketball coach told me yesterday they are going to consider seeding the conference tournament by picking the teams with the best four records regardless of division and awarding them byes in the first round. I personally believe that divisional play, which works well for football, does not translate for basketball because there are so many games, should be eliminated. I don’t think anybody is hanging an “SEC East Basketball Champions” banner in the rafters. It’s just a different sport.
5. Will Alabama get any relief in its football schedule? By now it is a well-known fact that Alabama’s last six SEC opponents in 2010 all have open dates before they play the Crimson Tide. The SEC has not released its official schedule yet because it has been trying to give Alabama some help. But in order for that to happen other schools in the league have to be willing to change THEIR schedules. Maybe one game gets moved but certainly not more than that. The SEC can’t go very far into June without its football schedule being set.
Please follow me on Twitter:
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
201 comments Add your comment
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:31 am
Have a look at Vandy’s schedule (Northwestern, Uconn and Wake) …those guys have got cojones relative to their annual performance.
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:34 am
Georgia has been putting it on the line with Okie State and AZ State. Even Bama with its Ga State fiasco still played Va Tech and is playing Penn State this year. Who is Florida playing that is the equivalent? NOBODY Ole Miss is almost as lame.
Mikey in the SAV
June 1st, 2010
10:34 am
Every team schedules so called inferior opponents and every once in a while those supposedly inferior opponents make a game of it- see App St vs. Mich a few years back.. those supposedly inferior opponents make great money to come in and get pushed around so there’s nothing to see here folks…please move along..
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
10:35 am
Love how people want to try and bash UF’s OOC schedule, when clearly their format works for them, just ask Ohio State, Oklahoma and Cincinnati.
Delbert D.
June 1st, 2010
10:37 am
I never could figure out the bulldog and cowbell thing. What’s the tradition behind that?
The opponents should sneak in those crickets that you snap with your thumb. That has a long tradition, as they were used by allied forces in the Normandy invasion for signaling in the hedgerows. They use them for dog training, nowadays.
Harmonicas would be cool, too; but not a easily hidden as crickets.
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:38 am
Got news for you brother: The pantywaist Gator formula would work for anyone who was born without testes.
New Gator Fan
June 1st, 2010
10:38 am
The Gators don’t need to play a tough out of conference schedule. Just win the SEC and play in the Championship game. It’s a recipe that has worked so far.
Miles
June 1st, 2010
10:38 am
Destin, Florida? Life is tough, Mr. Barnhart! Scott Stricklin probably needs a chaperone. I’m sure these burning questions will require a lot of thought, discussion, and prayer. What pressure everyone must be under during these crucial times! I’m sure there will be no time for golf, cold beer, or any extracurricular activity. Godspeed!
Delbert D.
June 1st, 2010
10:40 am
One last time, I hope. Here’s the SEC OOC schedule for 2010, and my assessment of difficulty rankings:
SEC Out of Conference Games (* away # neutral site)
Alabama———San Jose St., Penn St., Duke*, Ga. St.
Auburn———-Ark. St., Clemson, UL-Monroe, UT-Chatt. 8 home games
Arkansas——–Tenn. Tech, UL-Monroe, Texas A&M*, UTEP
Ole Miss——–Jacksonville St., Tulane*, Fresno St., UL-Lafayette
Miss. St——–Memphis, Alcorn St., Houston*, UAB
LSU————-UNC#, West Va., McNeese St., UL-Monroe
Florida———Miami (OH), USF, App. St., FSU*
South Carolina–So. Miss., Furman, Troy, Clemson*
Georgia———UL-Lafayette, Colorado*, Idaho St., Ga. Tech 5 road games + #
Kentucky——–Louisville*, W. Kentucky, Akron, Chas. Southern
Vanderbilt——Northwestern, Connecticut*, E. Mich, Wake Forest
Tennessee——-UT-Martin, Oregon, UAB, Memphis*
Difficulty Ranking
1. LSU
2. Florida
3. Georgia
4. Tennessee
5. SC
6. Alabama
7. Vanderbilt
8. Miss. St.
9. Auburn
10. Kentucky
11. Arkansas
12. Ole Miss
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
10:40 am
Kiffin….
Who is equivelent? First off Arizona State is nothing special. I’d say easily UF playing South Florida this year is equal to those ASU teams. Oklahoma State? They were pretty good two years ago, but last years 9-4 team that got beat by teams like Houston and Ole Miss really was not much better than the yearly FSU teams UF plays. Then again i guess for UGA fans when you lose to schools like Kentucky, you think those other schools are juggernauts.
murfdawg
June 1st, 2010
10:44 am
Tony,
Who is crying about Bama’s schedule? You, Saban. Mal Moore, Slive, Bear? It is really a lot of posturing to ease the skid in case they have a bad season. Tn, MSU, and USC couldn’t beat bama if they had ten weeks to prepare. Bama and LSU are both off before their big game. So no big deal there. Auburn is off before the Bama game, but Bama plays Georgia St. Are they really worried about getting beat up and hurt against GSU? If they are a good team, and they should be, the schedule should not hurt them.
Do the Bama fans a favor and quit whining about the schedule. They don’t care. As one of my old rugby buddies used to say, “We’ll take the big ones one at a time, and the little ones as fast as they can get here.”
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:45 am
kgator – It’s all done in the state of Florida. I would love to see UF travel to Stillwater or LA. The queston really isn’t who is good when a game is played. it is what were the expectations when the game was scheduled. I guarantee you the USF tilt ws designed as a road kill blue plate special. It would be pretty funny if USF bit the gators. Away games against legit members of BCS conferences outside the state of Florida…I still don’t see it.
The rest of us
June 1st, 2010
10:46 am
I’d love to see Florida open on the road at Oklahoma State and then play South Carolina the next week when USC still has something to play for.
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:48 am
I do not like UGa, but at least they have been playing a manly schedule of late.
CanadianWolf
June 1st, 2010
10:48 am
Ban the cowbells at Mississippi State unless they are attached to cows.
Roll Tide
June 1st, 2010
10:50 am
New Gator Fan. We were saying the same thing at the SEC Championship last year. Roll Tide Roll!
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
10:51 am
It is true that Ole Miss, Miss State and Cun-tucky have even lamer schdules han UF this year. What a bunch of Pansies.
The rest of us
June 1st, 2010
10:52 am
Traveling to Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado should not be compared to driving down I-75 to play USF, EVER.
Mikey in the SAV
June 1st, 2010
10:53 am
Gators- That game in Tuscaloosa will be kinda good this year.
I give you props for traveling out of the State for a game other than LSU.
Attention: Gator Fans
June 1st, 2010
10:53 am
After decades of regular-season match-ups,
why did Florida take Miami off the regular season schedule?
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
10:54 am
Like I said, not going to apologize for Florida’s schedule. Foley who is one of the best if not the best AD’s in the country clearly knows what he is doing when puting a schedule in place. His system keeps money flowing into the program and championships are continually played for. Going across country to play somebody in the regular season does nothing to benefit UF.
New Gator Fan
June 1st, 2010
10:56 am
Even I know playing in the state of Florida is different than traveling to Oklahoma and then playing an SEC opponent, come on now kgator79.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
10:58 am
UF took Miami off the regular season schedule mostly because UF realized playing at Miami did nothing to benefit them financially. Gator fans would pack half the Orange Bowl and Miami would go home taking most of the profit. From UFs stand point they realized why not just schedule teams who will come to UF instead and ultimatly bring in more money. Miami needs UF on their schedule more than UF needs Miami.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
10:58 am
Stop confusing me with all these facts!
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:00 am
The Gators shouldn’t have to play anybody they should just give them the National Championship ever year. They are THAT good.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:00 am
I just can’t shut my mouth because I know everything.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:01 am
If someone would cover my mouth I would probably suffocate.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:02 am
Ok UGA fan. Congrats on your “were tough schedulers trophy”. Is this going to be the excuse now for 30 years of no national title? Say what you want about UFs schedule, in the end UGA is still UF’s b**** when it comes to face to face on the playing field.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:02 am
You guys keep taunting me I’ll get my jorts in wad and tell you how many times UF has beaten the Bulldogs in the last 20 years.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:07 am
have to laugh when anyone living in the south wants to attempt to make fun of others for jorts. Been through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina many times. Trust me, jorts are quite numerous among the residents of all those states.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:11 am
Told you.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:12 am
The mouth breather blast was pretty funny though. Jean shorts not so much.
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:14 am
I always toot my horn when kids ask me to when I’m driving through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina in my 18 wheeler.
Timothy S. Keough
June 1st, 2010
11:15 am
I can’t believe that there are those who claim that the Gators should play a tougher non-conference schedule outside the State of Florida. The best Football played in this country since 1983 has been in the State of Florida. The big three have won 10 national championships between them; have played in another 8 title games; and have had countless top 5 and top 10 finishes. USF didn’t start playing football until 1997, but has become a perenial bowl team and has beat top 10 teams over the past few years and even rose as high as #2 during the 2007 season. They also beat FSU this past year (At FSU) and won its bowl game. FSU has been to more consecutive bowl games than any other team in history. Those are two of Florida’s non-conference games – one at home and one on the road. Then there is Miami of Ohio which was a bowl team last year. Then there is the SEC schedule which includes #1 Alabama (at Bama); LSU which had two titles last decade; Georgia who won several SEC titles last decade including double digit winning seasons in all but three (3) under Richt; and then a host of other SEC schools who would likely dominate the Big East or the ACC but can only muster 7 or 8 win seasons in the SEC. Then there is the SEC championship and a bowl game against ranked foes. Swithcing gears, Notre Dame will neve join the Big Ten. They don’t want to join a conference but if they felt like they had to, then they would join the Big East. They are already part of the Big East in the other sports, i.e., Basketball and Baseball. As to recruiting, what is the real purpose in moving up the signing date. It seems like it is much more for the college than the kid. And what about all of the coaches that get fired and seasons end. Shouldn’t a kid know that which he does by February.
Bammer 4 Life
June 1st, 2010
11:16 am
Auburn should be KICKED OUT of the SEC for SUCKING.
Bammer 4 Life
June 1st, 2010
11:17 am
keep making fun of Florida you pathetic bulldawg fans. Last time i checked they OWN YOUR SORRY @sses….. go do your gangsta dance in the end zone.
The rest of us
June 1st, 2010
11:21 am
And lsst time I checked you threw Jack Daniels bottles at the Dawg Pile in the end zone in Bammer after the loss, Bammer.
Correction
June 1st, 2010
11:22 am
The rest of us
June 1st, 2010
11:21 am
And last time I checked you threw Jack Daniels bottles at the Dawg Pile in the end zone in Bammer after the loss, Bammer.
Kiffinisatosser
June 1st, 2010
11:23 am
More Bammer parania…it is one of life’s constants.
and Timothy S. – Miami of Ohio most certainly did NOT go to a bowl game last year. They sucked and will suck again. Florida has had weak OOC scheduling for quie a few years now. Admit it.
The rest of us
June 1st, 2010
11:24 am
Hey Bammer, nice touch incorporation a 4 Horsemen reference in your name. Stay classy, brother ( said like Hulk Hogan).
Poker in the front
June 1st, 2010
11:26 am
More bammers. What happened up there in Florence? Were you able to exchange your turkey beard, pop tops and klan hat for an internet connection?
T-Bone
June 1st, 2010
11:29 am
Tony, Why shouldn’t the SEC just act first? Why wait on the Big 10 to make the first move? By waiting aren’t they acquiescing to the fact that the Big 10 is a better conference?
Old Tech
June 1st, 2010
11:34 am
Don – 11 out of 18 = 61.1% very impressive, but not 90%
And just to remind you to stay humble, Ga Tech was out of the league 40 years before you could pass them in number of SEC championships.
ew
June 1st, 2010
11:37 am
Tony, I am begging you can we PLEASE have a blog about something other than expansion…This is getting old…
RxDawg
June 1st, 2010
11:41 am
ew, did you make it past point #1?
Old Tech
June 1st, 2010
11:42 am
Tony, If the SEC bans artificial noisemakers, can that include tubas, trumpets, etc? Would that mean we can finally enjoy halftime?
Gator Nation
June 1st, 2010
11:44 am
The last ones who should be talking about easy schedules this year are dawg fans. Other than Florida and maybe Auburn away, who do they play?? Maybe Tech. No Bama. No LSU. But still they will manage to lose 4-5 games and whine about Florida’s schedule.
SEC Headlines – 6/1/10 « MrSEC.com
June 1st, 2010
11:45 am
[...] the SEC 20 years ago.15. If the SEC expands, Texas is the goal.16. Tony Barnhart of The AJC has five questions regarding the SEC meetings which kickoff today:* Do you think expansion will come up?* Will the football coaches finally [...]
Gator Nation
June 1st, 2010
11:47 am
Hey Georgia…want to know how to win championships?? Try beating the big boys, like Florida, on a consistant basis. I’d try to get by Kentucky first though…
kgator79
June 1st, 2010
11:47 am
I see the little 12 year old who wanted to pretend to be me is gone