SEC meetings recap: What happened and what's next

DESTIN, Fla. — As he departed the SEC spring meetings Friday afternoon, Georgia president Michael Adams had one major takeaway.

“This is a new world. ... It is truly a new day,” he said. “If I didn’t get any other message through today, that would be it.”

Adams was referring to the changed landscape of college athletics and to the need for the major players in the debate over a national college football playoff — the conferences and the bowls — to put aside past conventions and expectations.

“You’ve got to quit thinking now, in my opinion, about the way the world has been,” Adams said.

Amid these turbulent times of change in college athletics, the SEC held its annual spring meetings, dealing with conference-specific issues such as scheduling and national-level issues such as the proposed playoff.

A recap of what happened and a look at what’s next, on five major topics:

Football playoff

What happened: The SEC presidents made their position clear. They want a playoff that includes the nation's four best teams, regardless of whether those teams are conference champions. Period. "One, two, three, four," SEC commissioner Mike Slive kept saying Friday. "One, two, three, four."

What's next: Three BCS meetings this month — June 13, June 20 and June 26 — will pit the SEC's position on a playoff against the conflicting stance of several other leagues. While the Big 12 supports the SEC's four-best-teams position, the Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC and Big East want the team-selection criteria to favor conference champions. Something, or someone, has to give — if a playoff is to be approved this summer for a 2014 launch.

Expansion/realignment

What happened: Lots of chatter and no action on this front. For the record, Slive and several SEC presidents insisted they are happy to remain a 14-team league, just as they insisted a year ago they were happy to remain a 12-team league.

What next: It probably depends on whether another round of expansion elsewhere triggers a chain reaction.

“If the whole world turned upside down tomorrow, we’d probably get back in that mode,” Florida president Bernie Machen said. “I don’t see any reason to expand right now. I think we’ve still got some digestion issues from 12 to 14.”

Football scheduling

What happened: After much debate, the SEC approved a football schedule format for 2013 and beyond that gives each team six division games, one cross-division game against a rotating opponent and one cross-division game against a "permanent rival." The latter means the Georgia-Auburn and Alabama-Tennessee games will remain annual events.

What's next: Schools are eager to learn who their rotating cross-division opponents will be for 2013 and the next few years thereafter. Mark Womack, SEC executive associate commissioner, said those will be assigned randomly and as soon as possible. The rotation will turn each year, meaning it'll take six years for every East team to face every West team.

Basketball scheduling