SEC Annual Spring Meetings to Focus Primarily on Proposed NCAA 'Power Conference' Autonomy Changes

Football coaches in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) are going to focus primarily on the NCAA's potential proposal to offer the five "power conferences" more autonomy.

Mike Silve, commissioner of the SEC athletic conference, told the Associated Press he is in favor of more autonomy as long as the proposal is properly structured. Leaders of schools in the Pac-12 recently drafted a letter to the NCAA with similar concerns.

"Our presidents and chancellors have unanimously supported this effort to create autonomy in these areas that are related to student-athletes, so I anticipate that we will continue to support it," Slive told the AP. "And I do anticipate that we will also want to see that the proposed model is modified so that that autonomy really means autonomy, that the five conferences can determine how their own legislative process will work."

The NCAA wants to reshape Division I athletics to give "more autonomy" to the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, the five conferences that make more money than the rest. However, conference leaders want to make sure the proposal is truly beneficial.

"This isn't about five commissioners, this is about 65 institutions and their presidents," Silve said. "I'm optimistic that these changes will occur and that we will be able to fully support the model going forward."

Some of the potential changes will give leaders of schools in the power conferences to grant stipends to student-athletes to go beyond covering the cost of admission. The schools could also use athletic department funds to grant family members with tickets and travel arrangements to attend home games.

The NCAA recently passed a bylaw revision that gives student-athletes unlimited meal plans on campus. The NCAA was influenced by former UConn point guard Shabazz Napier's assertion he often went to bed hungry because the school did not cover extra food in his meal plan.

Silve said the SEC leaders will discuss other desired rule changes when their annual spring meetings begin next week in Destin, Fla.

"Clearly it's time for us to have serious conversations about the transfer rule and how it applies," Slive told the AP. "I anticipate that there'll be some spirited conversation about that once we get the autonomy to deal with that.

"We have been dealing with areas that we believe need to be addressed. We have not gotten into any more detail about that."