Alabama’s Nick Saban had acknowledged he was in the minority among SEC football coaches in favoring a nine-game league schedule, and that turned out to be quite an understatement.
League coaches were opposed to the idea by a margin of 13-1 when they hashed out the issue at the SEC’s spring meetings here Wednesday, LSU’s Les Miles and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier confirmed afterward. Saban was the only supporter.
However, that hardly is the end of the issue. Ultimately, although not this week, a decision on whether to increase league schedules from eight games to nine will be made by the presidents of the SEC schools and Commissioner Mike Slive.
Even some of the coaches who favor keeping the eight-game schedule suspect an increase is inevitable at some point.
“I think we will end up moving to nine games eventually. It’s just my personal opinion,” Florida coach Will Muschamp said after Wednesday’s meeting. “We created an SEC Network, and at the end of the day it’s going to be driven by the dollar. Having those (ninth) games will be important to have enough quality games on television.”
But Miles resisted the suggestion of inevitability: “Until someone proves to us that a nine-game schedule is an advantage … it stands to reason that an eight-game schedule in our conference puts us in position to win national championships.”
While an eight-game schedule had near unanimity among the coaches, opinions were split about 50-50 on whether to maintain fixed cross-division rivalry games (such as Georgia-Auburn and Alabama-Tennessee) or to rotate all cross-division opponents, Spurrier said. Among those in favor of keeping the games: Georgia coach Mark Richt and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, whose schools have met 116 times in football.
The SEC is committed to eight-game league schedules with one fixed cross-division opponent through at least the 2014 season. The league hasn’t given a timetable for making a longer-term scheduling decision.
Basketball scheduling: Concern about the impact of some teams' schedules on other teams' chances of reaching the NCAA tournament pushed the SEC to require that all schools submit their proposed non-conference men's basketball schedules to the conference office for review.
“We’ve tried to schedule ‘up’ since I came to Georgia,” UGA coach Mark Fox said. “But it’s getting harder and harder to schedule. As leagues have expanded … and added league games, there are fewer teams willing to go home-and-home in the non-league. But it’s an issue the conference is concerned about because it has such an impact on your RPI and who ultimately ends up in postseason play.”
A team’s RPI — a factor in the selection and seeding of the NCAA tournament field — is based 25 percent on its winning percentage, 50 percent on its opponents’ average winning percentage and 25 percent on its opponents’ opponents’ average winning percentage.
“One of the things that was very eye-opening to all the coaches is just how much every team’s scheduling impacts the other teams,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
The SEC will analyze each school’s proposed schedule and provide guidance.
Etc.: Alabama athletic director Bill Battle suggested four names for the College Football Playoff selection committee: former SEC commissioners Roy Kramer and Harvey Schiller and former coaches/athletic directors Vince Dooley and Doug Dickey. … Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze, asked if he cares about recruiting rankings: "Unfortunately, I do." … Tennessee coach Butch Jones on his new league: "Every day is football season in the SEC."
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