Amazingly he wrote a fairly interesting article without sucking Saban.
And let me just say that I had no idea former SEC commissioner Harvey Schiller was such a bad-ass stud.
Former SEC Commissioner, President of Turner Sports, CEO of YankeeNets (yes, those Yankees and those Nets), director of US Olympic Committee, president of International Baseball Federation, an executive in charge of WCW Wrestling, has a Doctorate in chemistry from University of Michigan, former head of Chemistry Department of the Air Force Academy, and a Brigadier General in the Air Force. Damn, that's a busy life he's led.
http://blog.al.com/press-register-sports/2010/04/finebaum_how_texas_nearly_join.htmlAs the landscape of college athletics continues to rattle with the looming prospects of major conference realignment, Harvey Schiller was recently recalling what might have been.
From 1986-89, Schiller was the commissioner of the SEC. Light years ahead of his contemporaries, Schiller helped to spectacularly alter the direction of the SEC by moving toward expansion and a championship game in football.
In a recent interview, Schiller reflected back on how Arkansas and South Carolina became the 11th and 12th schools in the league. But the most shocking revelation concerned how close the University of Texas came to joining the SEC.
Schiller, who left the SEC to become the executive director of the United States Olympic Committee and would later serve as president of Turner Sports and CEO of YankeeNets (going from working for Ted Turner to George Steinbrenner), said Texas had virtually agreed to become an SEC member. Arkansas and Texas would join the SEC from the Western side and South Carolina and either Florida State, Miami or Virginia Tech would enter from the East.
"The one that made the most sense was Texas," Schiller said. "I spent some time with DeLoss Dodds (the Texas athletic director) and he really wanted to join the conference."
Done deal. Everything agreed to but the name on the dotted line. Then, it all came apart.
"The state legislature (in Texas) somehow got wind of it through Texas A&M and said we had to bring in both schools or we couldn't take Texas," Schiller said.
The SEC didn't want A&M. Ultimately, the two Texas schools would leave the Southwest Conference and join the Big 12.
The scramble on the other side of the league was just as furious. Schiller remembers Vince Dooley of Georgia was pushing for Georgia Tech. At Florida, officials were pushing for FSU and Miami.
"They felt it was the only way to control recruiting," Schiller said. "We liked Miami, but passed because they didn't have a complete commitment to all their programs. Tulane was passed for the same reasons."
Schiller, who lives in New York and is the chairman and CEO of GlobalOptions Group, an integrated risk management firm, said Virginia Tech simply wasn't a good fit from a geographic standpoint.
Schiller was personally high on Florida State, but left for the USOC before the deal could be consummated. In July of 1990, Arkansas ended its 76-year affiliation with the Southwest Conference to join the SEC. South Carolina would join a few weeks later, but only after a heated courtship pitting the ACC vs. the SEC for Florida State. To this day, many still blame Roy Kramer, Schiller's successor, for blowing the talks with FSU.
As for Schiller, he was not around to see his expansion efforts come to fruition, but it was definitely his baby, even though most in the media today continue to give Kramer all of the credit.
As with the league's title game, which remains one of college sports' most prized jewels, it was all Schiller.
Schiller remembers sitting around one day with one of his assistants, Mark Womack, now the league's executive associate commissioner. He was looking at the NCAA rule book and the idea was born.
"You know, Mark," Schiller said, "we can have a football championship.'" "What you mean?" Womack responded. "I'm looking at a rule book and it says if you have more than 10 institutions, you can effectively have a championship in any sport," Schiller said.
Somehow, Walter Byers, the dogmatic head of the NCAA, caught wind and immediately called Schiller in Birmingham.
"He said, 'what the heck are you doing?'" Schiller said, remembering the fiery conversation. "That (rule) was not meant for you," Byers told Schiller. "It was meant for hockey, volleyball and soccer (and smaller leagues) where they have 12 or 14 or 16 schools."
"But that's not what the rule books says," fired back Schiller, a former combat pilot in Vietnam who later attained the rank in the Air Force of Brigadier General. Schiller once headed the chemistry department at the Air Force Academy and holds a doctorate in the subject.
Schiller said the conversation deteriorated from there, with Byers "calling me an SOB."
"You're not going to do it," Byers demanded.
Oh yes we are, Schiller responded.
In 1992, the SEC made history by holding its inaugural championship game.
"de Tocqueville said the revolution only tells you something that already took place," Schiller said.
Schiller's words spoke volumes about his extraordinary tenure as the SEC commissioner more than 20 years ago. But it may also be applicable to current landscape of college athletics as well.
What will happen over these next few months remains a mystery. However, there is no mystery about the vision employed more than 20 years ago by Harvey Schiller, and how the SEC is still reaping dividends from his genius even today.
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