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Slive urges calm for SEC coaches
USC president Pastides keeps eye on finances for construction
By JOSEPH PERSONjperson@thestate.com
DESTIN, Fla. — SEC commissioner Mike Slive took his message of sportsmanship to the top Thursday, telling the conference’s presidents he wants the focus to return to the playing field after an offseason of sniping among several football coaches.
“Athletics is doing well financially at some level. But we’re concerned as well about the importance of citizenship, and of keeping things right and fair,” USC president Harris Pastides said. “The Southeastern Conference has had a good ride the past few years, and we’ve got to keep it that way.”
Earlier in the week Slive addressed the coaches on the issue. First-year Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin launched many of the verbal salvos, although USC’s Steve Spurrier might have fired the first shot when he questioned whether Kiffin had taken the NCAA recruiting exam before contacting prospects at UT.
Slive reprimanded Kiffin in February after the former Southern Cal assistant accused Florida’s Urban Meyer of violating NCAA rules. SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said Spurrier’s comments did not draw a reprimand because he phrased them as a question, rather than an accusation.
Building blocks. Pastides said there is concern among some presidents about the construction of athletics facilities at a time when many universities are cutting back and putting building projects on hold.
USC is expected to open a $13 million academic enrichment center early next year. Trustees in April gave preliminary approval for $50.5 million in construction costs for the reconfigured Roost complex.
Pastides said he was reviewing the athletics department’s indebtedness, which athletics director Eric Hyman recently estimated to be $110 million.
“I’m delighted with the ‘Dodie,’ the academic enrichment center. I’m delighted with the master plan for Williams-Brice,” Pastides said. “But I want to take it one step at a time, and do those things that are most important, that are good for the fans.”
Doing fine. When Kentucky scheduled an impromptu football news conference last weekend, the message boards started buzzing with rumors that Rich Brooks was stepping down. Brooks, who will be 68 when the season starts, also heard from some concerned friends.
“I had a couple of my good friends call me that thought I’d had a heart attack,” said Brooks, who has named former USC assistant Joker Phillips his coach-in-waiting. “The rumors started flying that I was stepping down for health reasons and that I’d had a heart attack or something.”
Brooks was fine. The news conference was to announce the NCAA had ruled senior defensive end Jeremy Jarmon ineligible because of a failed drug test.
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.