Just a little over a week after Mike Slive not-so-unexpectedly announced he would be stepping down as the commissioner of the SEC next year, the conference has taken the next expected step in securing a replacement.
The SEC announced in a press release Thursday that it is set to launch its search for Slive’s successor. As part of that search, Vanderbilt chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, current chair of the SEC’s presidents and chancellors, has appointed a five-person committee charged with the task of hiring the eighth commissioner in the conference’s history. The Fab Search Five are:
- Dr. David Gearhart, Arkansas chancellor
- Dr. Judith Bonner, Alabama president
- Dr. Eli Capilouto, Kentucky president
- Dr. Mark Keenum, Mississippi State president
- Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, Missouri chancellor.
Dr. Gearhart’s will serve as the committee’s chairperson.
“The SEC has enjoyed an era of unprecedented success under Mike Slive and at the same time has been a leader in dramatic change in the landscape of college athletics under his direction,” Zeppos said in the statement. “It is critical to have an efficient transition of leadership in order to continue our success on the fields of play as well as to identify a staunch advocate for academic achievement, integrity and sportsmanship. Our objective is to seamlessly maintain our conference’s participation in shaping the future of intercollegiate athletics.”
It’s widely believed that the SEC’s current chief operating officer, Greg Sankey, is the current favorite to take over for Slive. Before what many assume to be the inevitable happens, though, the committee will undertake a search that’s national in scope.
As for a timeline, there’s not one specific in nature. The release, though, stated that “the presidents and chancellors hope to select the new commissioner in a timely manner to allow a transition period before Slive’s retirement on July 31, 2015.”
By most accounts, the conference would like to have the successor in place around the first couple of months of the new year to allow for as smooth a transition as possible.
“The SEC has enjoyed an era of unprecedented success under Mike Slive and at the same time has been a leader in dramatic change in the landscape of college athletics under his direction,” Zeppos said. “It is critical to have an efficient transition of leadership in order to continue our success on the fields of play as well as to identify a staunch advocate for academic achievement, integrity and sportsmanship. Our objective is to seamlessly maintain our conference’s participation in shaping the future of intercollegiate athletics.”