Former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive dies at 77

[Freak]

Former Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive, who led the league to unprecedented success both on and off the field and managed its growth from a regional conference to national giant during his 13-year tenure, died on Wednesday after a lengthy illness.

Slive, 77, announced he was beginning treatment for a recurrence of prostate cancer shortly before he retired as SEC commissioner in July 2015. He said he'd been first diagnosed with the disease in the late 1990s. He had been working as a consultant to the SEC since his retirement.

Former Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive dies at age 77

 

[Boca Vol]

I hate to hear that.

 

[malinoisvol]

Rip

 

[HooahVol]

He seemed like a good guy and definitely brought the league into the 21st century. RIP.

 

[BearCat204]

RIP


Probably one of the most influential people in the college sports world over the last 50 years.

 

[feathersax]

He seemed like a good guy and definitely brought the league into the 21st century. RIP.

Commissioner Slive a fixture at Salem's Diner in Homewood, a must stop during SEC Baseball Tournament. Met him there a couple of times, & he was most gracious. Condolences to the family.

 

[BowlBrother85]

He seemed like a good guy and definitely brought the league into the 21st century. RIP.

I hate to hear of Slive's passing and I'm sure he was a good guy but Roy Kramer was a much better commissioner and had more of an impact on the landscape of the SEC and college football as a whole. It was Kramer who:

* within 7 months of his appointment announced the expansion of Arkansas and South Carolina and guided the conference in the creation of divisional play and a conference championship game - becoming the first conference to do so. This established a template that most leagues have since followed.

* created the Bowl Championship Series.

* during his tenure at the helm of the SEC, the conference won 81 national championships, the most ever in a decade by the league. It was Kramer who oversaw the distribution of a then-league record $95.7 million to it's member institutions for 2001-02. It was Kramer who negotiated multi-sport national television packages with CBS and ESPN, featuring football and men's and women's basketball, through the 2008-09 season.

The league was already in the 21st century because of Kramer. I think Slive gets a lot of credit for things Kramer was responsible for - but Roy is also a good guy and probably doesn't mind that at all.

 

[05_never_again]

I hate to hear of Slive's passing and I'm sure he was a good guy but Roy Kramer was a much better commissioner and had more of an impact on the landscape of the SEC and college football as a whole. It was Kramer who:

* within 7 months of his appointment announced the expansion of Arkansas and South Carolina and guided the conference in the creation of divisional play and a conference championship game - becoming the first conference to do so. This established a template that most leagues have since followed.

* created the Bowl Championship Series.

* during his tenure at the helm of the SEC, the conference won 81 national championships, the most ever in a decade by the league. It was Kramer who oversaw the distribution of a then-league record $95.7 million to it's member institutions for 2001-02. It was Kramer who negotiated multi-sport national television packages with CBS and ESPN, featuring football and men's and women's basketball, through the 2008-09 season.

The league was already in the 21st century because of Kramer. I think Slive gets a lot of credit for things Kramer was responsible for - but Roy is also a good guy and probably doesn't mind that at all.

I thought the same thing. Slive was a great commissioner, but he simply ran the machine that Kramer built. Kramer was about 10 years ahead of all the other conferences in everything he did.

Also, that 30 for 30 (or maybe it's an SEC Storied) about the first SECCG game is great. If Antonio Langham doesn't run that INT back for a score and allow Alabama to win, that game is probably disbanded (because the SEC's national title contender would have lost an "extra" game that other title contenders didn't have to play in, and likely not had a chance to win the title) and the other conferences wouldn't have added one either because of the risk of that same thing happening. That game really did change the course of college football as we know it.

If Alabama lost, perhaps many years later the SEC or some other conference would have tried it again, but the chilling effect of having your conference's national title contender lose an extra game, and thus not be able to win the title, would be enormous. Instead it worked, and in time all the other conferences copied it.

 

[wmcovol]

Slive got a lot of credit for the financial success of the league early in his tenure when it was Kramer that built the foundation. Slive did lead the charge for the SEC network and he deserves credit for that.

 

[bamawriter]

Slive got a lot of credit for the financial success of the league early in his tenure when it was Kramer that built the foundation. Slive did lead the charge for the SEC network and he deserves credit for that.

Slive was also one of the first proponents for a playoff.

 

[05_never_again]

Slive was also one of the first proponents for a playoff.

Yep. The fact that Slive was an early and consistent advocate for a playoff really hurt the credibility of the anti-SEC crowd that claimed the SEC didn't want a playoff because the SEC benefits from a "bias" in the polling, which afforded SEC schools a better chance to end up in the title game.