M-Dog

October 14th, 2014 at 8:11 PM ^

This is not totally far-fetched.  Brandon did some strange things that sold out Michgian in favor of what the Big Ten front office wanted, like stepping up to be one of the mouthpieces for moving the Ohio State game away from the last game of the season.

It made me think he was lobbying to be the future B1G commissioner one day.  Maybe the SEC will take him.  

m1817

October 14th, 2014 at 6:24 PM ^

 

The favorite is far and away Greg Sankey, the SEC's COO and one of two people holding the title of executive associate commissioner. He came to the league in 2002 along with Slive, and basically every media person who has speculated on the next commissioner has named him first. He ran the Southland Conference before coming to the SEC, and he's worked in NCAA committees in recent years. He's qualified and has no apparent reason to turn it down. He'd represent a continuation of the Slive regime, something I think most SEC stakeholders could live with.

http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2014/10/14/6977309/mike-slive-retiring-ca…

LSAClassOf2000

October 14th, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^

If anyone is interested, here is the SEC's official blurb on the subject - LINK

Some of the information in the ESPN article comes from here, of course, but it also gives a little information on family, his education (he's an Ivy League guy actually - I didn't know that), as well as other career highlights:

His impact has been felt far beyond the footprint of the SEC. The founding commissioner of two conferences, he was also the founder of a law firm which assisted NCAA institutions in compliance matters, a Director of Athletics and a member of numerous leadership committees during the course of his career. More recently, Slive has helped craft the new College Football Playoff and is a leader in the historic effort to reorganize the NCAA for the purpose of creating a governance structure that provides maximum opportunities for student-athletes

bronxblue

October 14th, 2014 at 7:11 PM ^

As others have noted, sending Dave Brandon down there would be the quickest way to turn the tides and allow the B1G to catch up to the SEC.

That said, best wishes go out to Slive.  Nobody wants to have to step down because of cancer.

The Claw

October 14th, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^

So he slurargue (new word) that 3 teams from the SEC and ND belong in the Championship pool every year. I think it would be extremely entertaining.

Mpfnfu Ford

October 15th, 2014 at 1:26 AM ^

The main thing he did was unite the conference and end the back biting that plagued the league in the 90's. He ended the Fulmer Era of every program wasting resources trying to catch their rivals in an NCAA violation so they could stooge them off and get them in trouble. SEC schools stopped thinking, "Win the SEC title at all costs" and started thinking bigger. He guided them in that direction.

He's going to get lifted up as Jack Welch or something, which is excessive, but he was a good commisssioner who managed some very arrogant institutions and got them working together. I wish the Big 10 would look at the legal things the SEC has pioneered and copy them (such as the army of support staffs SEC teams have for grunt work so that coaches have more time to recruit, analyze important tape). And then I see Purdue's AD snarking on SEC support staffs and I think, "God nobody up here gets it."

SFBlue

October 15th, 2014 at 3:11 AM ^

Maybe it's just me, or the frustrated English major within me, but that guy's name always sounded to me like the portmanteau of "slithy tove." 

Avon Barksdale

October 15th, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^

Why not? The guy cares about player safety, is a football guy, an elequoent speaker, and has 30+ years of NCAA experience. He'd be a homerun hire to run the greatest conference ever known to ESPN. /s