Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive announced that he will be retiring next year in July. He has been the commissioner for SEC for 13 successful years bringing the organization success and affluence.
According to Slive statement "'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. 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. I will relish my final year in this position and look forward to being the biggest fan of the SEC for many years to come."
Slive battled with prostate cancer in1990 and he was treated. He then had a recurrence right after he had back injury.
He will continue to carry out his responsibilities from the SEC office and his home office in Birmingham, Alabama.
Slive helped the league to land a television rights deals with CBS and ESPN worth billions and in August the SEC Network was launched.
According to Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley "'Mike possesses all of the qualities of a great leader - visionary, consensus builder, integrity, intuition and commitment, but more than anything he is a great friend to so many of us in this league."
Vanderbilt chancellor Nick Zeppos said that SEC will now start to scout for the right successor for the position that Slive will be letting go.
Greg Sankey who was promoted to executive associate commissioner and chief operating officer at the SEC in March 2012 said "I've had the opportunity to learn every day from Mike Slive. That's one of the reasons I took the job."
He adds "'I think one of the things that our leadership helped transition was how you handle those things. When we have problems now, they are, I think personally, materially different than what we've had."
While Auburn AD Jay Jacobs only had good words for the commissioner "Nobody's had a greater positive impact on intercollegiate athletics in the last 10 years than Mike Slive has. In 2005, he was a proponent of the plus-one, and finally now almost 10 years later we finally got the four-team playoff."
