Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive speaks during SEC media days on Monday, July 14, 2014, in Hoover, Ala.The best and worst job in intercollegiate athletics is now accepting resumes.
That's what Mike Slive has made the Southeastern Conference commissioner's position during the 12 years he's run the league. His vision, respect and forcefulness have made the SEC the envy of every other NCAA conference. Yet attempting to replace him when he retires on July 31, 2015, could be tougher than following SEC coaching legends Bear Bryant, Adolph Rupp and Pat Summitt combined.
That Slive is stepping aside to devote his full attention to defeating prostrate cancer for a second time only makes his exit all the more bitter than sweet.
But regardless of the reason for the departure of the 74-year-old "recovering attorney," as he often calls himself, his legacy will be both storied and stifling.
After all, what other commish has presided over seven straight national championships in football and had his league play for an eighth in a row?
What other son of Utica, N.Y., could walk into the racially scarred SEC -- a league that never previously had a black head football coach -- and encourage Mississippi State (a school that once refused to play in the NCAA tournament because it might face black players) to hire Sylvester Croom in Slive's second year on the job?
Croom was gone after 2008, but four other black coaches have followed, including Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin, one of the game's brightest young offensive minds.
At a time when NCAA attendance figures and television ratings were beginning to decline, what other commissioner could orchestrate a deal with ESPN that not only would link the SEC to the cable giant but all but guarantee that its 14 member schools will receive the biggest revenue-sharing checks anywhere?
And whether you agree with him or not, what other commish could basically force the rest of the NCAA's 1,000-plus member schools to give the Fat Cat Five leagues -- Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC -- autonomy to pretty much govern themselves on almost every big issue, especially the payment of athletes for cost of attendance?
Slive has done all that while growing the league's revenue from $96 million the year before he arrived to $310 million last year, all the while watching the conference win 77 national championships in 17 sports.
And let's not forget that it was basically Slive alone who pushed for a Division I football playoff, which is happening this season.
Nor did he exactly follow an empty chair. The man he succeeded, Roy Kramer, was the father of the Bowl Championship Series, the divided football conference and the SEC championship game, which meant that in 2002 a lot of people were asking who could possibly follow Kramer.
Or as Mississippi State athletic director Scot Stricklin told Fox Sports on Tuesday: "Commissioner Kramer had done a nice job; we had won some national championships. I think everyone thought the SEC, if not the best league, was definitely in the argument. What's happened under Mike's tenure is there's no longer a question. He took it to a level I don't know anyone thought was possible."
No one's legacy is accurately written while still on the job. There already are those within the league rightly wondering if all the SEC Network television exposure won't greatly hinder ticket sales and concession revenues at schools in the final throes of disappointing seasons. Slive arguably tried too hard to save friend Bruce Pearl's job when the former Tennessee basketball coach and current Auburn boss lied to the NCAA about recruiting violations. His desire to pay athletes sounds reasonable at the SEC's mammoth level, but what about everybody else?
Even the SEC, if everyone else fell by the wayside, might struggle with only itself to play.
But Slive's job never has been to concern himself overly with college athletics as a whole. It was to make the SEC the most powerful conference in the land, which is all but indisputable these days.
Maintaining that dominance -- whether it's Slive's SEC lieutenants Greg Sankey (the early favorite), Mark Womack or someone currently outside the league, as Slive once was -- now will be the tough part.
"I have been blessed in more ways than I can count, and I will have as much passion for this job on my last day as I did on my first," Slive said in a prepared statement released Tuesday by the conference. "I consider my health situation a temporary detour in a remarkable road that has allowed me to meet amazing people, experience incredible events and celebrate historic victories."
It has been a remarkable career, indeed. And the only way to guarantee its legacy is to name the trophy given to each year's College Football Playoff champion the Mike Slive Trophy, then hope he whips the Big C soundly enough to present it to the winner for many years to come.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.