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Monday, August 13, 2007
Why the SEC is smiling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes this job is just too easy.
Sometimes people just tee it up and allow us to hit it out of the park.
Thank you, Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh, you should know, is a former Michigan quarterback who is now the head coach at Stanford. Like his former coach (the late Bo Schembechler), Harbaugh has a tendency to tell the truth as he sees it and let the chips fall where they may. It’s one of the reasons we all loved Bo and miss him.
During the Pac-10’s media days Harbaugh suggested that the 2007 team from Southern Cal might be one of the best of all time. It was hyperbole, to be sure, but harmless.
But then he did the unthinkable, at least for a Michigan man. Harbaugh, for reasons known only unto him, suggested that…GASP!…his alma mater cuts academic corners to get great football players into school and keep them eligible.
Needless to say, Harbaugh has been cut out of the Michigan family quicker than Michael Corleone dispatched Freddo.
What makes this all so delicious, and the reason the is SEC smiling today, is that Harbaugh’s comments come about five months after some well-chosen words on academic integrity by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.
Last February Delany’s conference was getting its collective chops busted after national signing day when the SEC basically cleaned the Big Ten’s clock in recruiting. And national signing day came about a month after Florida’s 41-14 beat down of No. 1 Ohio State in the BCS championship game where the difference in talent and speed was very evident.
A writer in a Chicago newspaper suggested that the Big Ten needed to rethink how it does business in order to improve recruiting and compete more favorably with the SEC.
In response, Delany wrote this in an open letter to Big Ten fans on the league’s website: “I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics.”
Say what?
No, wait. It gets better.
“I wish we had six teams among the Top 10 recruiting classes every year, but winning OUR WAY (my emphasis) requires some discipline and restraint in the recruiting process.”
Trust me when I tell you that Mike Slive, the SEC Commissioner, wanted to fire back with both barrels. He took the high road.
Fortunately, we don’t have that problem here.
Will this come up again the next time the SEC and Big Ten square off? What do you think?
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