Slive praises SEC on hiring minority coaches

Published Jul. 17, 2012 2:35 p.m. ET

foxsports

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -- Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive says that the lack of minority head coaches in the league is no longer a headliner.

Slive emphasizes it was a big story when he took over a decade ago that the conference had never had a black head football coach.

Now, the SEC has three. Two of them -- Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin and Vanderbilt's James Franklin -- will take the podium Tuesday before hundreds of reporters.

Slive notes that the SEC has eight minority men's basketball coaches and five leading women's hoops programs. He says he takes "great personal satisfaction in how far we've come in this area."

Slive also referenced the turmoil at Penn State, saying that no individual can be allowed to "derail the soul of an institution."