DESTIN, Fla. — Reporters asked Georgia’s Mark Richt if his fellow SEC football coaches ever speculated about which schools could get added, should the conference choose to expand in the future.
“I’d be shocked if we started knocking around, ‘Hey, what team do you think would be fun to add,’ ” Richt said. “I don’t think we’ll do that.”
That’s one man’s take. LSU’s Les Miles had a different approach.
“Casually, speculatively, wildly,” Miles said of the conversations of expansion. “Of course we do, just like (the media) does.”
So if the coaches can’t quite agree on how much the topic is even being talked about, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that no substantial debate on the issue occurred during the first day of the SEC’s spring meetings Tuesday. In fact, most coaches did their best to avoid the topic altogether, although Richt noted it was easily the most asked question of the day from reporters.
With both the Big Ten and the Pac-10 publicly considering expansion, the possibilities have been speculated about endlessly across the country, but SEC commissioner Mike Slive has remained relatively quiet on the subject, which Georgia athletics director Damon Evans said is a perfect indication of the conference’s position in the college athletics landscape.
“I think it says something that we’re not actively going out there in the news,” Evans said. “I don’t think there’s a rush to go out there and say, we need to do this or we need to do this. Now, the landscape may change, and I think it’s our responsibility to keep our eyes on the landscape and see if at some point in time we need to adjust. But if we’re going to adjust, it’s got to be something that’s going to be beneficial to us and help us grow.”
For his part, Richt said he wouldn’t argue with the addition of more teams to the SEC’s current 12-team structure. He just wouldn’t want to play any additional conference games. The competitive balance is already tough enough, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen said, and Miles responded to another question about the potential addition of Texas to the SEC by likening it to adding the Green Bay Packers.
But while the football coaches were grilled on the issue, Evans said it was important to remember that there were numerous other factors at play, too. Academics, geography and, of course, the other non-football sports all will play a role, which is why he said the SEC remains in a prime position to take its time before addressing expansion in any definitive way.
“There’s so many (issues) out there, which is why I think it’s good to be in a position where you don’t have to rush forward and overreact,” Evans said.
Fields won’t make cut
Dalton defensive end Jalen Fields, Georgia’s first commitment from the class of 2010, won’t be in Athens when the rest of the incoming freshmen arrive this month.
Fields did not qualify academically, Richt confirmed Tuesday, and will play the upcoming season elsewhere. Richt said he wasn’t sure where Fields would play, although he didn’t rule out the possibility of a season at Georgia Military College.
Of the 16 other freshmen signed by Georgia in February, only receiver Lonnie Outlaw has also failed to qualify, Richt said. Before committing, Outlaw had been set to attend GMC with plans to transfer to Georgia in a year or two.
“I’ll just say, there’s no surprises in this bunch,” Richt said of the group’s academic issues.
Who’s the boss?
If there’s one topic first-year Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley has talked enough about this spring, it’s about his parents.
Dooley’s father, Vince, was the longtime head coach at Georgia, and since the son was hired at Tennessee, all most fans want to know is what colors dad will be wearing when the Bulldogs and Volunteers face off on Oct. 9.
“It’s amazing to me how interested everybody is in my mom and dad and what they’re going to wear,” Derek Dooley said.
At a Tennessee fan event in Atlanta this spring, Dooley’s mother, Barbara, showed up sporting Volunteers colors, spurring plenty of talk among fans and reporters. The Tennessee faithful love it. The Georgia fans, not so much.
“I had to remind her that the event is not for her,” Derek Dooley said. “She’s developed a little bit of an icon status in Tennessee, and I’ve had to ban her from the state.”
Not that Dooley has much authority over his mother. Despite his rules, she’s made a habit of offering public comments.
“She violated the media policy,” Derek Dooley said. “(My) power can only go so far. She thinks it’s funny. She’s not going to think that when we’re having some bad years.”
