Slive arrived in 2002 with big shoes to fill. He replaced Roy Kramer, who in his 13 years as commissioner brought the conference to 12 teams and initiated a conference championship game. Under Slive's direction, the SEC has continued to flourish in the world of sports, and not just in football.

"We sponsor 20 sports," Slive said. "Last year the SEC, in 10 of the 20 sports we sponsor, we had either the national champion or the runner-up."

Not too bad for a guy who has only been here for four years. This is his third stop as a conference commissioner, previously heading the Great Midwest Conference and Conference USA. It didn't take long for him to notice a difference. The passion and the tradition in the SEC, he says, are unmatched.

"Once you're here," he said, "you realize how people care."

That's not to say that people don't care in other parts of the country, but the spotlight seems to shine a little brighter in the Southeast.

Several times a year, Slive will meet with coaches who are new to the conference. "You may not feel like you're a public figure," he tells them, "but you, in fact, are. What you do, where you do it, how you do it, every day, all day, is important."

Slive recalls being at a Bowl game which the SEC champion was about to win. All of a sudden, as he described it, "The fans burst into 'SEC! SEC! SEC!' And you realize they're there for their institution and they're excited about that, but they also always remember that they're part of this great league."

The commissioner was all smiles today. Why wouldn't you be when you know you're going to be attending the Florida-Auburn game in four days? He seems truly pleased to be directing the Southeastern Conference, saying, "I'm doing what I want to do. I'm doing it with who I want to do it, and I'm doing it where I want to do it."

Here are some other topics we talked to the Commissioner about:

THE BCS: (NOTE: Slive is currently serving as the coordinator of the BCS. That position changes amongst commissioners every two years.)

- "I've always been open about the fact that I'm not married to the current format we have." Slive said, though, he added that an NFL-style playoff system seems far away. He will not compromise academics or the regular season in order to change the postseason.

THE 12th GAME:

- "The SEC supported the 12th game," he said. Slive checked medical history to make sure that adding another game wouldn't harm the athletes. He said that the new game brings in more revenue that can fund other sports, and he thinks that over time, the games will get better.

THE NEW CLOCK RULES:

- "We really weren't the folks who were really pushing for this," Slive said. He noted that SEC games average about 3 hours and 4 minutes. "If we keep (the new rules), we probably ought to look at the last two minutes and maybe think about that."

THE OREGON-OKLAHOMA GAME:

- "You never deal with hypotheticals because you have enough real problems," he said. Slive was not touching that one.

PROUDEST MOMENT IN LIFE:

- "Watching my daughter grow and develop. She's now the Executive Director of the Atlanta Local Organizing Committee for the Final Four," he said. Slive loves the fact that he and his daughter are in the same business.

WHAT DOES THE COMMISSIONER ACTUALLY DO?

- "I have the opportunity to be sort of the, in some way, the public face of the league," Slive said. Though Slive will attend a game every week, his job is not all fun and games. He is responsible for solidifying the SEC's relationships with Bowl games. He must make sure the television coverage and the contracts are appropriate. He also gets involved in many sports issues that affect not only the SEC, but the entire country. And obviously, there's a lot more to it than that. It's basically a 365-day job.

"We usually can take July 4th off," he said.

Good. The Commissioner needs a break every once in a while.