Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive speaks to the media in this file photo (AP Photo/ Butch Dill)

HOOVER, Ala. - Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive bypassed his annual boasting of the league's football success due to the myriad of problems in the sport.

Auburn won the SEC's fifth consecutive national championship last season but remains under NCAA investigation as a result of former Tigers quarterback Cam Newton's recruitment. Alabama is on probation for the 2007 textbook scandal, and LSU was placed on probation Tuesday for its improper recruitment of a junior-college player in 2009.

Tennessee is expected to receive NCAA sanctions next month after violations committed in both the football and basketball programs.

"We don't have the luxury of acting like it's business as usual," Slive said as media days opened.

Slive presented an agenda to stimulate national discussion, but he not did call it a panacea. His agenda consists of four parts and deals with redefining benefits of student-athletes, strengthening academic requirements before and upon arrival in college, modernizing recruiting rules and supporting the NCAA enforcement process.

For more information, read Thursday's Times Free Press.