Search narrows for SEC commissioner
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The SEC has narrowed its search for a new commissioner to at least three finalists, the Journal-Constitution has learned.
Those finalists who have interviewed for the job of replacing Roy Kramer include:
Dan Beebe, 45, commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Mike Slive, 61, commissioner of Conference USA.
Mark Womack, 47, executive associate commissioner of the SEC.
The SEC's selection committee, which consists of six of the league's presidents, has also interviewed Rick George, 42, a former assistant athletics director at Vanderbilt and now the director of the PGA Tour event in New Orleans.
None of the candidates could be reached for comment on Saturday. University of Georgia president Michael Adams, who chairs the SEC's search committee, was out of the country and could not be reached.
Beebe, Slive, and Womack, however, are considered the three leading candidates for the job, which became available when Kramer announced his retirement in March. Each would bring certain strengths to the job.
Beebe became the commissioner of the OVC at the age of 31 after serving as one of the top investigators for the NCAA. Beebe, who holds a law degree from the University of California, was the lead investigator on the NCAA case which eventually gave SMU the death penalty.
Beebe's background will certainly help him with the SEC's presidents, who have made it clear that the new commissioner must exercise a firm hand in the area of NCAA rules compliance. Two schools (Alabama, Kentucky) are currently on NCAA probation while three other institutions are currently dealing with compliance issues that could result in sanctions.
Slive, from Utica, N.Y., is also an attorney, having earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. He once operated his own law firm and is a former judge in New Hampshire. He was named commissioner of Conference USA when it was founded in 1995 and has helped build the league into a strong player in Division I athletics.
Slive has a strong NCAA background as well. Ironically, he is the chairman of the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee, which will hear Alabama's appeal of its sanctions on Aug. 16.
Womack, who has been with the conference office since 1978, is the favorite of the league's athletics directors, who want to see Kramer's legacy continued. A graduate of Alabama, Womack was Kramer's right-hand man in the 1990s when the two put together a series of television contracts that were the envy of college athletics. As a result, the SEC expanded its revenue sharing with its members from $16.3 million in 1990 to $95.7 million at the end of this academic year.
Womack is also a favorite of the ADs because of his loyalty. During the '90s he turned down the opportunity to return to Alabama as athletics director in order to remain with the SEC.
George, a former assistant football coach at Colorado, is considered one of golf's top young adminstrators, having turned the New Orleans tournament into one of the most popular stops on the PGA Tour.
The SEC hopes to have a new commissioner in place by July 1.
