Rule71’s complete coverage of SEC Media Days starts with revolutionary proposals on everything from recruiting, education, cost of attendance and more. Much to the dislike of one Mr. Steve Spurrier.
Signifying an era of change, SEC commissioner Mike Slive kicked off SEC Media days 2011 with a full frontal announcement of his “National Agenda for Change”. With this new agenda Slive welcomes a modernization of the game and how its business is conducted.
As he addressed media at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, he acknowledged that many negative things “casts a shadow” over the league and all collegiate athletics in todays world.
“The NCAA conference revenue has increased, coach compensation has increased,” Slive said Wednesday. With all that, he added, the level of scrutiny is also raised. “It’s not business as usual anymore.”
After he is done, the “business” will have different regulations with different focuses.
Four primary areas Slive introduced to the media were;
-Redefining the benefits available for student athletes
-Strengthening requirements for high school graduates and college transfers
-Modernizing recruiting (especially the relationships institutions and coaches can have with prospective students)
-Supporting NCAA enforcement
The first step, Slive says, is providing additional benefits to athletes in an equal manner, that is linked with the education system.
“We realize this will be a financial hardship on some,” he said.
This step will involve reviewing the cost of attendance to include medical costs, travel, clothing, books and supplies that are not included in a regular scholarship. In addition, Slive told the media he wants to look into giving athletic scholarships that are granted as multi-year awards that have an added focus of academic and behavioral standards.
“This is to keep the door open for those who want to come back and get their degree,” he said.
According to Slive, whether an athlete prefers to stay at an institution or continue to the NFL, the new “agenda” will help aid transitions with “experts athletes can trust”.
Cooperation between the NCAA, NFL, American Football Coaches, Attorney General and certain college football conferences hope to provide that solid advice for athletes. The group effort will take an aim at making a regulatory approach for agents to help players transform to the NFL. Slive did add that current NFL Lockout controversy has slowed their plans on that front, but he is confident they will resume with full force once that issue is resolved.
Slive’s plans also hope to change the definition of whether a freshman can play their first year or not. Under this proposal the league will track academic performance throughout an entire high school career. Three components will shape how eyes will be kept on academic progress by:
1. Raising the minimum GPA required for the first year from a 2.0 to a 2.5
2. Establish an annual progress rule at high school level where students must take and pass a required number of core classes in each year of high school.
By having this requirement, Slive hopes this will avoid last minute efforts by high school seniors to cram for eligibility. South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is not sold on the idea of raising the GPA.
“For some reason we want to try and make it more difficult on these young men who come from difficult backgrounds and difficult academic settings," he said. "I think the requirements are pretty good the way they are right now."
(Now I may not be a coach. Well… I’m literally not. But other than the selfish reason of not tapping the full pool of athletes because of a point five GPA difference, I don’t see the HUGE deal in this. Heaven forbid the Commissioner want to incorporate a higher-level scholastic achievement.)
In addition, Spurrier did not agree with the multi-year scholarships.
“That’s a terrible idea, Commissioner,” he said to reporters Wednesday.
After Slive dropped the interesting game-changer with high school academic requirements he moved on to recruiting.
“It’s time to push the reset button,” he said.
The Commissioner says that today the idea of a level playing field in the game of recruiting is an “illusion.” Again outlining three components he wants to;
1. Permit use of electronic communication like phone calls, text messages, Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.
2. Establish days where coaches can engage in off-campus recruiting. Ideally allowing coaching staff to evaluate and converse with a prospect on the same day.
3. Ensure recruitment of prospect in an education environment, prohibiting institutions from hosting or sponsoring non-scholastic events on or off-campus to recruit players.
Slive’s comments followed high anticipation at media days and coach reaction is mixed. Slive hopes the process will move forward in August when several presidents will attend a Presidential Retreat he says is “a call to action” for this “comprehensive reform effort.”
