National Football Foundation

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced that former Southeastern Conference (SEC) Commissioner Mike Slive will be recognized with an NFF Legacy Award during the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The NFF Legacy Award, established in 2007, honors individuals and organizations who have made extraordinary contributions to the NFF and/or embody its mission. 

“Commissioner Slive has had an enormous impact on college athletics, and especially on college football,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “He established himself as one of the most influential leaders in the history of college athletics, and generations of student-athletes will benefit from his legacy for years to come. He helped build SEC Football into a national powerhouse that saw the conference achieve extraordinary success during his tenure. We are extremely pleased to honor him as his successful career comes to an end.” 

Under Slive’s leadership, the SEC has enjoyed unprecedented championship success, claiming seven consecutive Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national titles in football. In all, the SEC has won 67 national championships in 15 of its 21 sponsored sports during his tenure as commissioner. He led the adoption of a new and effective league-wide NCAA compliance initiative; engineered landmark television contracts, including the launch of the SEC Network; and guided the conference through expansion, welcoming Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri. Slive also played a key leadership role in launching the new College Football Playoff in 2014. 

Slive graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962, and he earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1965. After earning his Master of Laws from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1966, he returned to New Hampshire to begin his legal career. Slive served as the assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth from 1968-69 and as judge of the Hanover District Court from 1972-77. In 1979, he was named the assistant executive director of the Pac-10 Conference, a role he held until 1981. 

Slive served as the director of athletics at Cornell University from 1981-83 before returning to Hanover, N.H., once more to operate his own law firm. In 1986, he was named a partner in the Chicago law firm Coffield Ungaretti Harris & Slavin. In 1991, Slive founded and became the first commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference, which subsequently under his leadership merged with the Metro Conference in 1995 to create Conference USA. He served as the first commissioner of Conference USA until July 1, 2002, when he became the seventh commissioner of the SEC. 

As part of his role as the SEC Commissioner, he served as the coordinator of the BCS for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He was a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee through September 2009, and he served as the chairman of the committee for the 2008–09 academic year. He officially retired on June 1, 2015 as the SEC Commissioner. He will remain in an official advisory role until July 31 during transition period and for another four years as a consultant to the SEC. 

Slive was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Commission on Athletic Opportunity in 2002, and he participated as a member of multiple NCAA Management Council subcommittees. He served as chair of the NCAA Infraction Appeals Committee and the National Letter of Intent Appeals Committee since 1993 and the Collegiate Commissioners Association since 2001. Slive has also served with distinction as an influential member of NFF Board of Directors since 2008.