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All the SEC's power players are gathering in Destin this week for the Media Days appetizer known as Spring Meetings. This is where all the league coaches and administrators get together and discuss the goings on in the league and discuss any new ideas anybody might have.
Tuesday, it seemed all that basically happened was that some of the coaches made a series of press conferences throughout the day, including Bret Bielema.
Bielema has told Arkansas players in past "we need to be a little more (Steph) Curry and a little less LeBron" in terms of team chemistry.
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) May 31, 2016
I don't really even know what this means. LeBron's been the best player in basketball over the last decade. Unless, as Evin Demirel pointed out, he wants the team to be better at making three-pointers (field goals). Now that, I can get behind.
Bielema says that Slive once fined him $20,000 for talking negatively about another SEC school after being warned.
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) May 31, 2016
This is interesting. I know a lot of people have commented that Bielema has toned down his rhetoric over the last year or two, and this might be part of the reason why.
I'd love to know exactly which comments got him in trouble and which school was involved*.
*It was almost definitely Auburn.
Further, Bielema also reiterated his call for undrafted underclassmen to be able to return to school, and said the other coaches were in agreement with him. He said it's the first time he and Gus Malzahn have agreed on something since he's been in Arkansas.
Bielema also brought up an idea he proposed a while ago about an SEC vs Big Ten or ACC Challenge in the same way football does it. Greg Sankey later said "we call those bowl games" so don't expect it to happen soon.
In a new topic, Bielema called the loss-of-value insurance policies available for college athletes "a racket." He pointed out that Jonathan Williams had a policy and even though you can make a case he probably would have been drafted higher than the 5th round if he didn't get hurt, Williams never received any money from the policy. I've read elsewhere that no player has ever collected on those policies.
In other news, Hugh Freeze tried to play off Ole Miss's recent violations as "mistakes" as opposed to "cheating" and everybody rolled their eyes. Nick Saban pointed out that there are no regulations as to what coaches can do at satellite camps, so it's really a wild wild west setup as of right now. And Butch Jones said his program is fine and wouldn't compare it to Baylor.