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Southeastern Conference
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The Southeastern Conference (commonly abbreviated, SEC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in , which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A). The conference is one of the most successful financially, consistently leading all conferences in revenue distribution to its members including a record $127.2 million for the 2007–2008 fiscal year.
The Southeastern Conference was also the first to hold a championship game (and award a subsequent title) for college football and was one of the founding members of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
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Encyclopedia
The Southeastern Conference (commonly abbreviated, SEC) is a college athletic conference headquartered in , which operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I in athletic competitions; for football, it is part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A). The conference is one of the most successful financially, consistently leading all conferences in revenue distribution to its members including a record $127.2 million for the 2007–2008 fiscal year.
The Southeastern Conference was also the first to hold a championship game (and award a subsequent title) for college football and was one of the founding members of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The current commissioner of the Southeastern Conference is Michael Slive.
History
The SEC was established in December 1932, when the 13 members of the Southern Conference located west and south of the
Appalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen charter members have remained in the conference since its inception: the University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), Mississippi State University, University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University.
The other charter members were:
- Sewanee: Left the SEC in 1940. The school has since deemphasized varsity athletics and is currently a member of the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
- Georgia Tech: Left the SEC in 1964. In 1975, it became a founding member of the Metro Conference, one of the predecessors to today's Conference USA. Georgia Tech competed in the Metro in all sports except football, in which it was independent. In 1978, Georgia Tech joined the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports, where it has remained.
- Tulane: Left the SEC in 1966. Along with Georgia Tech, it was a charter member of the Metro Conference. Unlike Tech, however, Tulane remained in the Metro until the Metro Conference merged into the new Conference USA in 1995. Tulane remained an independent in football until the formation of Conference USA.
1991 expansion
In 1991, the SEC expanded from 10 to 12 members with the addition of:
In 1992, the SEC adopted the divisional setup that exists today. Also in 1992, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to conduct an annual championship game in football, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions. The 1992 and 1993 SEC Championships were held at Birmingham's Legion Field, and at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in all championship games thereafter.
Membership timeline
Television and radio contracts
The SEC televises football games across various networks during the fall. The primary networks for SEC coverage are CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, and Raycom (formerly Lincoln Financial and Jefferson Pilot). Games scheduled for airing are generally picked two weeks before they occur, with a few matches that are selected by CBS and ESPN prior to the season. CBS has the first pick for a game and selects the highest-profile game to broadcast to a national, over-the-air audience. The CBS game is usually broadcast at 3:30 ET. CBS also has the rights for the SEC Championship Game. The next selection goes to ESPN, which will usually broadcast an SEC game at 7:45 ET. Raycom offers regional coverage for an SEC game of the week at 12:30 ET, and each school plays at least one game at this time. For those outside of the SEC media market, this game is offered on the ESPN Game Plan package. After the three networks make their selections, ESPN has an option to select another game to broadcast on one of its networks. ESPN also has the option to select additional SEC games for ESPN2, or occasionally will broadcast some games on Thursday night.
ESPN reported paying $2.25 Billion for broadcast rights of SEC football games beginning in the 2009 season and running through the fiscal year 2025.
For games not selected by any broadcast provider, certain schools offer regional pay-per-view.
As of 2008, all SEC schools are affiliated with XM Radio, offering their radio broadcasts to an audience on XM. According to SiriusXM, the Southeastern Conference will not be included as part of the "Best of XM" package deal for Sirius customers.
2008 television contract
During the 2007–2008 fiscal year review meeting, there was discussion among SEC leadership about the possibility of starting a TV network dedicated to its conference, much in the same way the Mountain West Conference and Big Ten Conference have done with the mtn. and Big Ten Networks. A decision was made to postpone the decision until at least the following year.
In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This will continue the relationship the SEC already has with CBS, which puts the SEC in the unique position as the only conference to have its own exclusive national television network of the big three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) to display the SEC's events.
In the same month, the league also announced another landmark television contract with ESPN worth $2.25 billion or $150 million a year for the life of the contract, which is for 15 years. It is the longest and wealthiest contract among all television deals among the major conferences. With these contracts, the SEC has the richest television deals in the country and will make the SEC the most nationally televised and visible conference in the country with the coverage that is provided by these contracts.
SEC Commissioners
The office of Commissioner was created in 1940
Current members
The SEC currently has twelve member institutions in nine Southeastern states. The geographic domain of the conference stretches from Arkansas to South Carolina (west to east) and from Kentucky to Florida (north to south). The flagship university in each state in the geographic domain of the SEC is a member of the conference, along with one of the preeminent private universities in the nation (Vanderbilt University) as well as two non-flagship institutions, Mississippi State University and Auburn University.
The conference is divided into two geographic divisions: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The twelve current members of the Southeastern Conference are:
| Institution | Location
(Population) | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Year Joined | Nickname | Mascot |
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| Eastern Division | University of Florida
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(108,655)
| 1853 | Public | 51,913 | Gators | Albert and Alberta |
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University of Georgia
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(111,580)
| 1785 | Public | 33,831 | Bulldogs | Hairy Dawg, Uga |
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University of Kentucky
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(270,789)
| 1865 | Public | 27,209 | Wildcats | The Wildcat, Scratch, Blue |
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University of South Carolina
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(119,961)
| 1801 | Public | 27,272 | Gamecocks | Cocky, Sir Big Spur |
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University of Tennessee
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(173,890)
| 1794 | Public | 26,400 | Volunteers, Lady Volunteers | Smokey |
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Vanderbilt University
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(607,413)
| 1873 | Private / Non-sectarian | 11,607 | Commodores | Mr. C |
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| Western Division | University of Alabama
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(83,057)
| 1831 | Public | 27,052 | Crimson Tide | Big Al |
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University of Arkansas
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(67,158)
| 1871 | Public | 18,647 | Razorbacks, Lady Razorbacks
| Big Red, Boss Hog, Sooie, Pork Chop, Tusk |
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Auburn University
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(54,348)
| 1856 | Public | 24,137 | Tigers | Aubie, War Eagle VII |
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Louisiana State University
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(224,097)
| 1860 | Public | 33,587 | Tigers, Lady Tigers | Mike the Tiger |
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University of Mississippi
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(14,051)
| 1848 | Public | 17,323 | Rebels | Colonel Reb |
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Mississippi State University
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(22,638)
| 1878 | Public | 17,824 | Bulldogs | Bully the Bulldog |
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- * Enrollment figures include both undergraduate and graduate students.
Sports
The Southeastern Conference sponsors championships in many different sports.
Under SEC conference rules reflecting the large number of (male) scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. The equivalent rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of Division I.
While South Carolina and Kentucky field men's soccer teams, the conference does not sponsor the sport; both schools in 2005 joined Conference USA for the sport.
Conference sports facilities
| School | Football stadium | Capacity | Basketball arena | Capacity | Baseball stadium | Capacity |
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| Eastern Division |
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| Florida | Ben Hill Griffin Stadium | 88,548 | Stephen C. O'Connell Center | 12,000 | McKethan Stadium | 7,000 | | Georgia | Sanford Stadium | 92,746 | Stegeman Coliseum | 11,000 | Foley Field | 3,291 | | Kentucky | Commonwealth Stadium | 67,530 | Rupp Arena (men)
Memorial Coliseum (women) | 23,000
8,500 | Cliff Hagan Stadium | 3,000 | | South Carolina | Williams-Brice Stadium | 80,250 | Colonial Life Arena | 18,000 | Carolina Stadium | 6,400 | | Tennessee | Neyland Stadium | 104,079 | Thompson-Boling Arena | 21,000 | Lindsey Nelson Stadium | 4,000 | | Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt Stadium | 39,790 | Memorial Gymnasium | 14,168 | Hawkins Field | 3,700 | | Western Division |
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| Alabama | Bryant-Denny Stadium | 92,138 | Coleman Coliseum | 15,043 | Sewell-Thomas Stadium | 6,118 | | Arkansas | Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (primary)
War Memorial Stadium (secondary) | 76,000
53,727 | Bud Walton Arena | 19,200 | Baum Stadium | 10,737 | | Auburn | Jordan-Hare Stadium | 87,451 | Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum | 10,500 | Plainsman Park | 4,096 | | LSU | Tiger Stadium | 92,400 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center | 14,164 | Alex Box Stadium | 9,200 | | Ole Miss | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium | 60,850 | Tad Smith Coliseum | 8,700 | Swayze Field | 6,000+ | | Mississippi State | Davis Wade Stadium (Scott Field) | 55,082 | Humphrey Coliseum | 10,500 | Dudy Noble Field | 7,200 |
- One men's home game per year played at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
- Currently under construction to add over 9,000 seats to the south end zone, to raise total capacity to over 101,000.
- Two games played each year at Little Rock, one non-conference game and one SEC game.
- New arena scheduled to open for 2010-11 season.
Football
Before expansion, each SEC school played 6 conference games. Five of these games were against permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the 6th game rotated around the other 4 members of the conference.
From 1992 through 2001, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played relatively weaker Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the permanent opponents to only one per team.
Under the current format, each school plays a total of eight conference games, consisting of the other five teams in its division, two schools from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. All permanent inter-divisional games, with the exception of Arkansas vs. South Carolina, were played annually before SEC expansion in 1992.
The following table shows the permanent inter-divisional opponent for each school listed by total number of games played (records through the completion of the 2008 season with Western Division wins listed first):
Other league athletic directors have advocated discarding the current format and adopting the one used by the Big 12 Conference, where teams play three teams from the opposite division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then switch and play the other three teams from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home. However, the potential loss of such heated (and profitable, as the games are often shown on national TV) long-standing rivalries as Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee, and LSU-Florida have scuttled such plans on the drawing board. The loss of the annual rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma has led some Big 12 athletic directors to make a push to adopt the SEC format for the Big 12.
Interestingly, before the institution of divisional play, many of Auburn's yearly rivalries were with teams in the East (Florida, Georgia and Tennessee), while Tennessee's yearly rivalries were with teams in the West (Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss).
SEC All Time Records
Championship Game
The SEC Championship Game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The SEC was the first conference in the NCAA to hold a championship game in football, which was made possible by the conference's expansion to twelve members with the addition of the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina in 1991. (The first championship game was during the 1992 season.) As of 2008, eight of the twelve SEC members have played in the Championship.
The first two SEC Championship football games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Since 1994, the game has been played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The team designated as the "home" team alternates between division champions; the designation goes to the Eastern champion in even-numbered years and the Western champion in odd-numbered years. The Eastern division of the SEC leads the Western division in overall wins in the championship game 11 to 6.
Bowl tie-ins
The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2007 season were:
- Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA (vs. BCS) – has hosted all SEC teams but Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt
- Capital One Bowl in Orlando, FL (vs. Big Ten)
- Outback Bowl in Tampa, FL (vs. Big Ten)
- Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX (vs. Big 12)
- Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, GA (vs. ACC)
- Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN (vs. Conference USA)
- Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN (vs. ACC)
- Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA (vs. Big 12)
- PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL (vs. Big East)
The Outback, Cotton, and Chick-fil-A Bowls each pick in the same tier and base their selections on regional differences. For example, the Cotton Bowl has preference on teams from the Western Division while the Outback Bowl has preference over teams in the Eastern Division.
Under SEC guidelines, the Capital One Bowl must pick the SEC Championship game loser if that team has won two or more games than the next team in the selection order. The SEC Championship game loser has not played in the Capital One Bowl since Arkansas following the 2006 season.
At this point, the SEC is 2nd in BCS Bowl appearances, with 15 appearances, and 1st in all-time wins and winning percentage(only including teams with 2 or more appearances), with 11 wins and a .733 winning percentage. The BCS Bowls include the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, and the BCS National Championship Bowl.
Football Rivalries
The SEC members have long histories. Some of the football rivalries involving SEC teams include:
Player Awards
Each year, the conference selects various Players of the Year – Offensive, Defensive, Special Teams, Freshman. In 1994, the conference began honoring former players from each school annually with the SEC Football Legends program.
50th anniversary All-Time SEC Team
In 1982, the SEC Skywriters, a group of media covering the Southeastern Conference, selected members of their All-Time SEC Team for the first 50 years (1933–82) of the SEC.
Coach: Paul Bear Bryant
Offense
QB Archie Manning, Ole Miss 1968-70
HB Charley Trippi, Georgia 1942,45-46
HB Billy Cannon, LSU 1957-59
HB Herschel Walker, Georgia 1980-82
WR Don Hutson, Alabama 1932-34
WR Terry Beasley, Auburn 1969-71
TE Ozzie Newsome, Alabama 1974-77
OL John Hannah, Alabama 1970-72
OL Bruiser Kinard, Ole Miss 1935-37
OC Dwight Stephenson, Alabama 1977-79
OL Bob Suffridge, Tennessee 1938-40
OL Billy Neighbors, Alabama 1959-61
PK Fuad Reveiz, Tennessee 1981-84
Defense
DL Doug Atkins, Tennessee 1950-52
DL Bill Stanfill, Georgia 1966-68
DL Jack Youngblood, Florida 1968-70
DL Lou Michaels, Kentucky 1955-57
DL Gaynell Tinsley, LSU 1934-36
LB Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama 1960-62
LB Jack Reynolds, Tennessee 1967-69
LB D. D. Lewis, Miss. State 1965-67
DB Tucker Frederickson, Auburn 1962-64
DB Jake Scott, Georgia 1967-68
DB Tommy Casanova, LSU 1969-71
DB Don McNeal, Alabama 1977-79
DB Jimmy Patton, Ole Miss 1953-55
P Craig Colquitt, Tennessee 1958-60
Men's basketball
Teams play a 16-game conference schedule, facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. Before expansion, teams played a double round-robin, leading to an exhausting 18-game conference schedule. Not surprisingly, no team ever ran the table when the conference schedule featured 18 games; three teams went 17-1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981). Since the league slate was trimmed to 16 games, Kentucky has gone undefeated in SEC play in 1996 and 2003.
Basketball tournament
The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The tournament is most often held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, though sometimes takes place at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana or Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Prior to moving to the Georgia Dome, the tournament was most often contested at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, home of the SEC's headquarters and centrally located prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. Other sites to host include on-campus arenas at Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and the Orlando Arena.
Rivalries
Several men's basketball rivalries have developed in the SEC:
- The dominance of these two teams in the '90s over everyone else in the SEC led to quite a rivalry, mostly by default, being the best two teams in the conference. The rivalry cooled in the following years as the Razorbacks have slipped toward the middle of the pack in the SEC West. With the recent success of new Razorback head coach and former Kentucky player, John Pelphrey, the series has once again risen in prominence.
- This conference matchup has become a major rivalry in recent years with the rise of the Florida basketball program under Billy Donovan (a former Kentucky assistant). While Kentucky holds an 84-30 advantage in the series due to decades of domination, the margin has narrowed since Donnovan became the Gators' head coach.
- A "border war" between two of the sport's historic giants. This rivalry is traditionally played at neutral sites, the RCA Dome (Lucas Oil Stadium beginning in 2009) in Indianapolis and Freedom Hall in Louisville, rather than in Bloomington and Lexington. The all-time record in this rivalry is 28-22 in Kentucky's favor.
- What had been a recent football rivalry has become a basketball rivalry as well, as the Volunteers under Bruce Pearl (and even previously under Buzz Peterson) have had recent success against Florida.
- This rivalry, nicknamed the Battle for Bluegrass, is unlike most that involve SEC schools in that it is relatively recent. For nearly 60 years, UK refused to schedule UofL in the regular season in either basketball or football. After a UofL victory over UK in the Mideast Regional final in the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament, pressure mounted on UK to schedule UofL; Cardinals supporters went so far as to propose a law mandating that the two schools schedule one another. The bill was never introduced, as a basketball series began in the 1983-84 season. The rivalry added a new edge in 2001 when the Cardinals hired former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino (although he was not hired directly from UK). Former UK head coach Tubby Smith is a former UK assistant under Pitino, and reportedly recommended Pitino to Louisville. The Wildcats hold a 26-12 lead in the all-time series.
- This rivalry is also a "border war" and the schools are located just three hours apart on Interstate 75. The two teams have played over 200 times in their history. When the two teams play at Knoxville, Thompson-Boling Arena is almost always sold out. Kentucky leads the rivalry 139-64.
- Not only are these two schools the closest to one another geographically within the SEC – a mere 80 miles separate them – but their respective head coaches, Mark Gottfried and Rick Stansbury, often battle each other for the same recruits.
- The in-state rivalry between these two teams in men's basketball dates back to the early 1900s. The two teams have played against each other more than 230 times in the SEC's most-played rivalry. Mississippi State leads 133-103 in 236 all time games.
Awards
The SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year is awarded to the player who has proven himself, throughout the season, to be the most exceptional talent in the Southeastern Conference. Various other awards, such as the best tournament player in the SEC Tournament and all conference honors are given out throughout the year.
Baseball
The SEC Baseball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball SEC, first started in 1977. It is a double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. Since 1998, the tournament has been held at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama and contested under the format used at the College World Series from 1988 through 2002, with two four-team brackets leading to a single championship game. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.
In addition to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Southeastern Conference usually gets several at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Rivalries
Several baseball rivalries have developed in the SEC:
- Historically these schools are arch-rivals, but following Tulane's decades long deemphasis of sports, this is the only sport in which the two schools are more evenly matched. On several occasions matchups between the two have drawn national record-setting attendances. Tulane reached its first College World Series in 2001 by defeating LSU in three games in the super regional at Zephyr Field.
- Before the arrival of Skip Bertman as LSU's baseball coach in 1984, Mississippi State had long dominated the conference in baseball, with most of that success coming under legendary coach Ron Polk (who returned to coach the Bulldogs in 2002 after retiring following the 1997 season), who coached future MLB stars such as Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark and Jeff Brantley. But when Bertman arrived in Baton Rouge, LSU's long-dormant program took off, winning 11 SEC championships and five College World Series championships in 18 seasons from 1984 through 2001. This success in Omaha has been a constant source of irritation to the State faithful, who still are waiting for their first national championship trophy in Starkville.
- To say that the two teams are familiar with each other would be an understatement as the Gamecocks and Tar Heels have met on the diamond four of the past six years. The 2002 NCAA Regional, 2003 NCAA Super Regional and 2004 NCAA Regional featured both schools against each other. South Carolina took two of three games over the Tar Heels to advance in the postseason in 2002, won both games in 2003 to reach the College World Series and won a pair of games in 2004 to go on to another NCAA Super Regional.
Other sports
Besides football, men's basketball, and baseball, there are a number of other sports in which the Southeastern Conference actively competes.
Rivalries
- The Lady Vols have historically been the nation's dominant program in that sport. Starting in the mid-1990s, UConn has emerged as Tennessee's main rival for national prominence. The Huskies won four national titles between 2000 and 2004; in three of those years, their victim in the NCAA final was Tennessee. Connecticut also defeated Tennessee in the 1995 Championship game, the Huskies' first-ever title. For more information, see UConn-Tennessee rivalry.
- These two storied programs have often butted heads for not only SEC titles, but NCAA titles, as well. Georgia has won nine national championships to Alabama's four.
- Auburn-Texas, men's swimming and diving
- One of the youngest rivalries featuring an SEC team, the Tigers and Texas Longhorns are the two most successful swimming and diving programs in the country. The two have combined for 16 National Titles since 1981 (9 for Texas, 7 for Auburn) and between 1999 and 2007 won every national title. The two regularly face off in a meet during the regular season, Auburn owns an 11-8 record over the Longhorns. Texas was the only team to beat Auburn between 2001 and 2008.
Southeastern Conference Schools Ranked by Endowment
National Championships
Since its founding in 1932, and the first full academic year of competition in 1933, SEC members have won a total of 161 team national championships.
Conference Champions
The Southeastern Conference sponsors eight men's sports and ten women's sports, and awards a conference championship in every one of them.
See also
External links
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