Day 3 From The SEC Meetings In Destin
posted by Scott Hood, Thursday, May 28, 2009
11:00 a.m. - Day 3 of the SEC meetings in Destin. Fla. but the itinerary for today is fairly light compared to the first two days. The Presidents - the most powerful group in the SEC - will meet today starting at 2:30 p.m. ET at the Hilton. I spoke with Dr. Harris Pastides yesterday when he arrived and he was in a pretty good mood. They have a number of issues to consider, including whether to sponsor legislation limiting the number of prospects a school can sign each year to 28. There appears to be a movement to take some type of action after Ole Miss signed 37 players in February. Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt admitted he knew about 10 of the players wouldn't qualify but that he wanted to start building a relationship with the state's junior colleges. We'll see how it goes. After the Presidents meet, ther eis a reception and and dinner tonight at the hotel. The meetings will conclude early Friday afternoon.
3:00 p.m. - The biggest news here in Destin right now is the NCAA/Memphis situation. The Tigers MBK program has been charged with major violations. One of the most damaging accusations is that a former player (Derek Rose?) had someone else take the SAT for him. Of course, the question becomes, what did John Calipari know and when did he know it? I saw a statement from the UK President defending Calapari. He was here Tues. and Wed. before the news broke. He's heading to China to participate in a basketball exchange program. The Presidents are meeting this afternoon. We're hoping to get some comments from President Pastides when the meeting breaks up. By the way, last night when I was in the restaurant here finishing up my story, Steve and Jerri Spurrier walked in with Florida AD Jeremy Foley. Late yesterday, I spoke with a couple of national writers about Spurrier and the proispects for the 2009 season. I will have their comments in today's notebook. I took a long walk along the beach here in Destin this morning and it was beautiful. As I said before, this place is a smaller version of Myrtle Beach.
8:15 p.m. - Day 3 of the SEC meetings have ended. The Presidents broke up their meeting about an hour or so ago and everyone is headed towards a dinner celebration. Maybe they're going to toast the eight-figure checks the SEC will hand out tomorrow morning to all 12 league members. Life is good for the SEC right now and the gravy train won't end for a while with the new $3 billion TV deal kicking in this August. I had a chance to interview USC President Harris Pastides and AD Eric Hyman a little while ago. Both men are in a good mood as the end of the meetings approach. I will have an article about my conversation with Pastides later tonight. He is a very athletics-friendly President, a luxury that not all universities enjoy. He often refers to athletics as the "front porch" of the university. He's right. Plus, he used to be a professor at UMass, my alma mater. He was there when John Calipari was the head coach for the Minutemen. Pastides asked me about the Memphis situation and Billy Gillespie's suit v. UK that was filed within the last day or two.
9:30 - It looks like the SEC will co-sponsor some type of legislation regulating the number of players a school can sign each year. However, rather than 28, the number might end up being 30. The SEC might have thought they would put themselves at a disadvantage compared to the other BCS programs if they enacted something unilaterally. We'll see what Slive says tomorrow in his final press conference.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
It's Thursday, which means we're into the third day of the SEC meetings in Destin, Fla. Today promises to be a little more quiet than previous days.
11:00 a.m. - Day 3 of the SEC meetings in Destin. Fla. but the itinerary for today is fairly light compared to the first two days. The Presidents - the most powerful group in the SEC - will meet today starting at 2:30 p.m. ET at the Hilton. I spoke with Dr. Harris Pastides yesterday when he arrived and he was in a pretty good mood. They have a number of issues to consider, including whether to sponsor legislation limiting the number of prospects a school can sign each year to 28. There appears to be a movement to take some type of action after Ole Miss signed 37 players in February. Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt admitted he knew about 10 of the players wouldn't qualify but that he wanted to start building a relationship with the state's junior colleges. We'll see how it goes. After the Presidents meet, ther eis a reception and and dinner tonight at the hotel. The meetings will conclude early Friday afternoon.
3:00 p.m. - The biggest news here in Destin right now is the NCAA/Memphis situation. The Tigers MBK program has been charged with major violations. One of the most damaging accusations is that a former player (Derek Rose?) had someone else take the SAT for him. Of course, the question becomes, what did John Calipari know and when did he know it? I saw a statement from the UK President defending Calapari. He was here Tues. and Wed. before the news broke. He's heading to China to participate in a basketball exchange program. The Presidents are meeting this afternoon. We're hoping to get some comments from President Pastides when the meeting breaks up. By the way, last night when I was in the restaurant here finishing up my story, Steve and Jerri Spurrier walked in with Florida AD Jeremy Foley. Late yesterday, I spoke with a couple of national writers about Spurrier and the proispects for the 2009 season. I will have their comments in today's notebook. I took a long walk along the beach here in Destin this morning and it was beautiful. As I said before, this place is a smaller version of Myrtle Beach.
8:15 p.m. - Day 3 of the SEC meetings have ended. The Presidents broke up their meeting about an hour or so ago and everyone is headed towards a dinner celebration. Maybe they're going to toast the eight-figure checks the SEC will hand out tomorrow morning to all 12 league members. Life is good for the SEC right now and the gravy train won't end for a while with the new $3 billion TV deal kicking in this August. I had a chance to interview USC President Harris Pastides and AD Eric Hyman a little while ago. Both men are in a good mood as the end of the meetings approach. I will have an article about my conversation with Pastides later tonight. He is a very athletics-friendly President, a luxury that not all universities enjoy. He often refers to athletics as the "front porch" of the university. He's right. Plus, he used to be a professor at UMass, my alma mater. He was there when John Calipari was the head coach for the Minutemen. Pastides asked me about the Memphis situation and Billy Gillespie's suit v. UK that was filed within the last day or two.
9:30 - It looks like the SEC will co-sponsor some type of legislation regulating the number of players a school can sign each year. However, rather than 28, the number might end up being 30. The SEC might have thought they would put themselves at a disadvantage compared to the other BCS programs if they enacted something unilaterally. We'll see what Slive says tomorrow in his final press conference.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.