How The SEC Became The Man

I didn’t realize until I started reading about PCC slush funds that I actually knew nothing about football history other than the big things like how the Cat’s did, who won a bowl or who was #1. I didn’t know that scholarships weren’t universally offered by conferences till the late 50′s. The SEC, the SWC and other southern schools offered scholarships but the Big 10 and PCC provided jobs, with limits on pay and the Ivy was the Ivy.

The SEC began to become the football giant they are now after WWII, when returning veterans found it financially profitable to enroll in southern schools, since the government was paying for school and they got to keep the scholarship money. I could be wrong on exactly this worked but it did work.

In 1948, the northern schools found themselves at such a recruiting disadvantage to the southern schools that they had to do something. Because regional conferences set their own standards what they did was to have the NCAA, then a relatively powerless body as far as regulation went, assume a role as national regulator of recruiting. At the 1948 NCAA convention, the “Sanity Code” was instituted. This set a policy that no athletic scholarships were allowed, but off-season jobs were allowed, as long as the pay was limited to NCAA standards.

Then, a curious thing happened. Seven schools, on a follow-up questionnaire, noted that they were continuing to offer scholarships.

The issue of these schools, dubbed the “Sinful Seven” (Virginia, Maryland, V.M.I., V.P.I., The Citadel, Boston College and Villanova) was brought to the 1952 NCAA convention (per the rules at the time, the convention addressed violations, not the current committee). In a 130 – 60 vote, the NCAA decided to not punish them. At that point, the “Sanity Code” was dead and schools resumed offering scholarships. It wasn’t till 1957 that the now-familiar athletic grant-in-aid was finally adopted in 1957.

What happened then was that the PCC who was against scholarships ran into major problems with slush funds, became the Athletic Association of Western Universities (how’s that for a name) then the PAC 8 and began to offer scholarships.

The Big 10 also began offering scholarships but tied them in with higher academic standards for recruits. This led to a period in the late 1950′s where the Big 10 went from maybe the country’s toughest conference (the SEC of its day) to being no better than any other conference. Today you can really see the results with their ponderous style of play.

Amazing isn’t it how one little thing can lead to another. By first offering scholarships then getting great players and coaches the SEC began the climb up the ladder to what it is today.