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SEC Commissioner Mike Slive meets the press the day before the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 6, 2013. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)
DESTIN, Florida - It was no idle threat and no empty promise. Mike Slive always chooses his words carefully, and no matter how softly he speaks them, it's obvious when he's serious.
It was very obvious how serious he was Friday afternoon.
When the SEC commissioner threatens to pull out of Division I and form a new Division IV if the NCAA doesn't give the big boys the autonomy they want in the form they want it, he means it.
"We need to face up to change," Slive said in his final visit with the media to conclude the SEC's spring meeting. "It is time. I do believe this is a historic moment, and if we don't seize the moment, we'll be making a mistake."
He didn't take off his shoe and bang it on the podium to drive home his point, but that would've been overkill. Slive's vow was powerful enough.
Autonomy on their terms or else.
The resolution of ongoing major lawsuits aside, the future of the NCAA comes down to this: Come August, if the NCAA Division I Board of Directors doesn't approve a governance reform package that meets the approval of the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12, those power conferences plan to form their own division within the NCAA.
"If it doesn't pass, the next move would be to go to a Division IV," Slive said.
Division IV would have its own rules on such things as scholarship limits, just as Divisions I, II and III do now. It would be Big Boy Central.
The reform the SEC and the other big boys seek involves more than allowing them to provide the full cost of attendance and improved medical and insurance coverage for their athletes. They also want to be able to pass legislation that affects them if 60 percent of the 65 power schools and three of the five power conferences agree.
The NCAA Governance Steering Committee put together a reform package the big boys generally like, but the committee also recommended a higher voting threshold of a two-thirds majority to pass legislation. The SEC and others aren't happy about the higher number. That's one example of a straw that could break Division I's back.
Slive said several times Friday that he's "somewhat optimistic" the Board of Directors will give the big boys what they want in that August decision - and that staying in Division I is something he and his colleagues want.
"We think the NCAA is better served and college athletics is better served if we stay in Division I," he said. "We want to be in the NCAA, and we want to all be in Division I."
They want to continue playing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and Slive said he thinks they will even if they feel compelled to form Division IV. They want to continue playing FCS schools and FBS mid-majors in football.
What they don't want is for the current Division I majority of smaller, poorer schools to continue to be able to make legislation that hurts them and defeat legislation that helps them.
"If in August the board rejects the steering committee's recommendation, you should call me up," Slive said.
If his phone rings off the hook in August, you'll know his call for historic NCAA reform didn't go through.