May 28, 2009

Christmas in Late May: News & Notes From the SEC Spring Meetings

Chancellors, Presidents, Athletics Directors, & various coaches from member conference schools gathered together over the past week in beautiful Destin, Florida for the SEC's annual "Back Up The Brinks Truck" Pow-Wow, otherwise known as the SEC Spring Meetings.

While trophy wives bake in the sun, ungrateful children frolic on the white sandy beaches while searching for Andy Reid's son's cell number, and Lane Kiffin begs Monte for the keys to the Suburban so he can cruise up and down Highway 98 with Lady GaGa's "Pokerface" blaring for the shawty's, the real powerbrokers of the conference huddle up, mulling over business problems,
examining opportunities, exchanging rumors, spreading gossip, and generally making even a guy like Patrick Bateman proud.

There have been some interesting things come out of past SEC Meetings, and the coup de grace always seems to be the culmination of the series of meetings and presentations, where SEC Officials announce to member schools just how big of a slice of the Television Contracts & Bowl Payout pie each of them will receive.

On a local radio in Baton Rouge today, longtime Sports Information Director for LSU and current senior Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent-whose in Destin along with the rest of the LSU contingent- guesstimated LSU's take to be $12,000,000.00, which means that the total pie was somewhere along the lines of $150,000,000.00 (USD).

That'll buy a few shooters at Fuddpucker's, won't it?

In other news from in and around the meetings this week in Florida:

You stay classy, Houston Nutt & Ole Miss

In an altogether sickeningly pathetic, yet strangely unsurprising development, Ole Miss Head Football Coach Houston Nutt came out in the media and announced that troubled yet star-heavy, star-crossed recruit Jamar Hornsby might still be a Rebel after all (pardon the pun).

As most readers know, I've done a fairly decent job of making my opinion on Nutt & Ole Miss' lax disciplinary standards well known through my commentary here on Fanblogs, but this might just take the cake. Hey recruits...Who cares if you steal dead people's credit cards and run fraudulent bills up on them after their deaths. Better yet, who cares if-while on probation for said crimes, and after being offered a 2nd chance both by the penal system & by Ole Miss to continue playing SEC Football-you beat down some dude with brass knuckles over a minor fender-bender in a drive through line, robbing him for every single one of the six dollars he had on his person at the time you cold-cocked him with a deadly weapon?

At Ole Miss, we still want you to be a part of our family!

Mike Slive lays down the law (as it pertains to everyone but the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa)

Teleprompters are for Presidents. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, obviously weary of seeing Lane Kiffin act like a complete and utter ignoramus since being hired at Tennessee, took the stage this week to give an extemporaneous, stern lecture to coaches & administrators across the conference to shut their yappers when it comes to the back and forth.

The message was clear: Stop the infighting. From some reports I've heard, the direction of his stares and nods throughout the meeting were even clearer: towards Kiffin and his Tennessee contingent.

Salary caps? Yeah, right...More like signee caps

In a move that's certain to ruffle the feathers of coaches like Nick Saban & Houston Nutt, the conference is mulling over the possibility of capping recruiting classes at no more than 28 signees.

This would prevent coaches like the aforementioned Saban & Nutt from chronic cases of signing 30+ recruits (or, in Nutt's case this year at Ole Miss, 37) knowing full well that a growing amount of those signed will never make it to class. The important thing to take from this is the future of a relatively recent practice of greyshirting within the SEC, and college football in general.

Every team in the conference greyshirts players (well, maybe Vandy doesn't), in which a player signs a Letter of Intent with a particular institution, and then-at the school's request-doesn't enroll until the numbers situation on the roster work out. LSU has signed at least one greyshirt in each of the past two recruiting classes, and coaches like Saban & Nutt are making a habit of it.

Slive supports the rule, whether it becomes an NCAA or SEC specific one, as at least publicly, he's worried about the promises member institutions are making to some players that they knowingly have no intention of keeping. Stay tuned on this one, as more than a few coaches besides the two I've mentioned here use this tactic to their advantage.

Comments:

Christmas in Late May: News & Notes From the SEC Spring Meetings
Chancellors, Presidents, Athletics Directors, & various coaches from member conference schools gathered together over the past week in beautiful Destin, Florida for the SEC's annual "Back Up The Brinks Truck" Pow-Wow, otherwise known as the SEC Spring Meetings. While trophy wives bake in the sun, ungrateful children frolic on the white sandy beaches while searching for Andy Reid's son's cell number, and Lane Kiffin begs Monte for the keys to the Suburban so he can cruise up and down Highway 98 with Lady GaGa's "Pokerface" blaring for the shawty's, the real powerbrokers of the conference huddle up, mulling over business problems, examining opportunities, exchanging rumors, spreading gossip, and generally making even a guy like Patrick Bateman proud. There have been some interesting things come out of past SEC Meetings, and the coup de grace always seems to be the culmination of the series of meetings and presentations, where SEC Officials announce to member schools just how big of a slice of the Television Contracts & Bowl Payout pie each of them will receive. On a local radio in Baton Rouge today, longtime Sports Information Director for LSU and current senior Associate Athletic Director Herb Vincent-whose in Destin along with the rest of the LSU contingent- guesstimated LSU's take to be $12,000,000.00, which means that the total pie was somewhere along the lines of $150,000,000.00 (USD). That'll buy a few shooters at Fuddpucker's, won't it? In other news from in and around the meetings this week in Florida: You stay classy, Houston Nutt & Ole Miss In an altogether sickeningly pathetic, yet strangely unsurprising development, Ole Miss Head Football Coach Houston Nutt came out in the media and announced that troubled yet star-heavy, star-crossed recruit Jamar Hornsby might still be a Rebel after all (pardon the pun). As most readers know, I've done a fairly decent job of making my opinion on Nutt & Ole Miss' lax disciplinary standards well known through my commentary here on Fanblogs, but this might just take the cake. Hey recruits...Who cares if you steal dead people's credit cards and run fraudulent bills up on them after their deaths. Better yet, who cares if-while on probation for said crimes, and after being offered a 2nd chance both by the penal system & by Ole Miss to continue playing SEC Football-you beat down some dude with brass knuckles over a minor fender-bender in a drive through line, robbing him for every single one of the six dollars he had on his person at the time you cold-cocked him with a deadly weapon? At Ole Miss, we still want you to be a part of our family! Mike Slive lays down the law (as it pertains to everyone but the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa) Teleprompters are for Presidents. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, obviously weary of seeing Lane Kiffin act like a complete and utter ignoramus since being hired at Tennessee, took the stage this week to give an extemporaneous, stern lecture to coaches & administrators across the conference to shut their yappers when it comes to the back and forth. The message was clear: Stop the infighting. From some reports I've heard, the direction of his stares and nods throughout the meeting were even clearer: towards Kiffin and his Tennessee contingent. Salary caps? Yeah, right...More like signee caps In a move that's certain to ruffle the feathers of coaches like Nick Saban & Houston Nutt, the conference is mulling over the possibility of capping recruiting classes at no more than 28 signees. This would prevent coaches like the aforementioned Saban & Nutt from chronic cases of signing 30+ recruits (or, in Nutt's case this year at Ole Miss, 37) knowing full well that a growing amount of those signed will never make it to class. The important thing to take from this is the future of a relatively recent practice of greyshirting within the SEC, and college football in general. Every team in the conference greyshirts players (well, maybe Vandy doesn't), in which a player signs a Letter of Intent with a particular institution, and then-at the school's request-doesn't enroll until the numbers situation on the roster work out. LSU has signed at least one greyshirt in each of the past two recruiting classes, and coaches like Saban & Nutt are making a habit of it. Slive supports the rule, whether it becomes an NCAA or SEC specific one, as at least publicly, he's worried about the promises member institutions are making to some players that they knowingly have no intention of keeping. Stay tuned on this one, as more than a few coaches besides the two I've mentioned here use this tactic to their advantage.