SEC ponders expansion

SANDESTIN — Eighteen years after the SEC changed the college football landscape by expanding to 12 schools and splitting into two divisions, conference expansion has become a hot-button topic again.

Everybody's talking about it.

The Big Ten. The Big 12. Notre Dame.

Even the SEC, the trendsetter, is talking about it.

Well, sort of.

"We talk about it a lot, just like you guys do, because it's really interesting," LSU football coach Les Miles said. "But the SEC has a real advantage. We're very profitable. the league is strong from top to bottom and it really fits a dynamic and a television market. I don't know that expansion is a benefit at this time.

"I think if you see another conference reshuffle wildly, there might be a reason to expand. But I think it would have to be a wild reshuffling. Then the commissioner would consider it."

Miles pretty much nailed the SEC's stance on expansion with his comment.

The league is keeping a close eye on what could happen with the Big Ten and other conferences that might be looking to expand. And league officials are talking about expansion this week at the SEC's Spring Meetings, but they are not plotting strategy or discussing a possible expansion plan.

"We usually talk about issues of national importance, so I would expect we'll talk about it," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said. "Basically, what we're going to say is what's been said. Given our success over the last decade, we're pretty comfortable for reasons that you all know. We are comfortable where we are and the family we're in.

"Having said that, if there is a significant shift in conference paradigm, we will be thoughtful and strategic in our goals to maintain our position as one of the most successful conferences in the country. People can draw inferences from that, but that's about all I'm going to say about it this week."

The natural inference is this: The SEC will expand if it feels it has to to maintain its position as, arguably, the strongest conference in the nation.

The feeling seems to be if someone tries to come up with a super conference, with possibly 16 teams, the SEC will come up with an expansion plan of its own.

"Mike Slive has always done a very good job of being well-organized and having foresight in terms of what some of the issues relative to the horizon and what's coming in college football," Alabama football coach Nick Saban said. "Just like this expansion thing that everybody is talking about.

"I think from a competitive standpoint, we have a lot of good teams right now. And I think playing those teams actually makes us all a little better. And I think the good competition helps with exposure, helps us attract more players.

"So, I think it's going to be a quality league if it stays like it is, and I think that anything the league chooses to do will obviously be something that will make us better. I have a lot of faith, trust and confidence in the people who are in charge that they would do that."

The SEC seems to be waiting to see what the Big Ten does. There is talk of adding Notre Dame (and possibly other schools), splitting into two divisions and having a championship game. With its tradition and national following, Notre Dame would be a huge get, but there is a strong feeling the Irish do not want to give up their independent status (and national television contract).

Notre Dame has resisted wooing from the Big Ten in the past.

"Even when I was back in the Big Ten (at Michigan State), it was always about Notre Dame then," Saban said. "That's really the big key to all this stuff. Each year, there was a big discussion about trying to get Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. That's a lot of what it's about right now.

"I'm sure expansion is something (the Big Ten) wants to try to do to improve their league so they can improve their TV contracts and maybe get a situation like we have with a great championship game. That's been the talk for 10 or 11 years, and it's never really happened. I think that's what they are sort of after."

While the Big Ten (and other conferences) tries to figure it all out, the SEC seems comfortable being what it is now — a strong conference with about $3 billion in television contracts (with CBS and ESPN) that wins national championships and turns a big profit.

Florida's Urban Meyer is one coach who likes things just the way they are.

"I don't think you can expand. I hope not. That's just one man's opinion," Meyer said. "The SEC has elevated itself to one of the top, if not the top, conference in college football in the last four or five years. I can't imagine making it any more tougher (by expanding)."

Contact Robbie Andreu at 352-374-5022 or andreur@gvillesun.com.