Highlights of Commissioner Mike Slive's Press Conference at SEC Media Day

With SEC Media Day officially underway, SEC commissioner Mike Slive was was the first to address the media, and the rest of the college football world. He talked about many things throughout his approximately 20-minute speech and there were many things to take note of.

Slive has been the SEC commissioner since 2002 and hopes to stick around for at least two more years. He has done a fabulous job since taking over this conference and touched on many interesting topics throughout the day.

Here are some of the highlights of commissioner Slive's press conference. 

The SEC is no joke 

Slive made a serious point to brag about how great his conference is, and seriously, can you really blame the guy? He made it a point to tell everyone that the conference has won nine national championships and had seven runners ups in all of its sports combined within the last year alone. Slive also said that in the last 10 years, the SEC has tripled the revenue it generates for its schools. And in the past 10 years, the SEC has won 62 national titles in 16 of 20 sports sponsored.

The SEC also gets things done on in the classroom, having a total of 42 academic All-Americans last year alone, most of any year.

Jen Smith of the Lexington Herald-Leader tweeted what Slive had to say about his student-athletes accomplishments.

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Slive: "I continue to be astounded of the quality of our kids in the classroom and on the field."

— Jen Smith (@jenheraldleader) July 17, 2012"

Recruiting

I'm not sure why Slive would consider changing up some of the recruiting rules, but he would like to "hit the reset button" and focus "only on what counts". One of the things mentioned is allowing the use of text messaging between players and coaching staff. Seriously, does the SEC need any more advantages in the recruiting world? This is a conference that has several schools in the top 25 each year in recruiting classes, which plays a huge role in why the SEC is so successful.

Matt Hayes of the Sporting News tweets what Slive said about text messaging.

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Slive calls text messaging "the language of our student athletes."

— Matt Hayes(@Matt_HayesSN) July 17, 2012"

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how these changes play out, if there in fact are any.

Texas A&M and Missouri 

The SEC, of course, added two new teams to the conference in Texas A&M and Missouri. Slive said, "They fit and we welcome them into the conference." One of the interesting things is the fact that Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin is now the third minority football coach in the conference. In fact, the SEC now has a total of 16 minority head coaches, including eight in men's basketball and five in women's basketball.

Courier-Journal's beat writer, Kyle Tucker tweets Slive's comments on minority coaches.

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Now 16 SEC minority head coaches combined in 3 major sports. Slive says hiring minorities "no longer a story, simply a part of who we are."

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) July 17, 2012"

Changes moving forward

Besides the recruiting side of things, Slive remains focused on "Project X", which is also known as the SEC Network, which the conference is working hard to put together. Slive would also like to increase the number of full scholarships for student-athletes and install financial aid rules for former student-athletes.

Lexington Herald-Leader reporter, Jen Smith tweets what Slive said about the approach the SEC plans to take moving forward.

          Slive to media: SEC "must continue to be creative, innovative and think outside the box."

"— Jen Smith (@jenheraldleader) July 17, 2012"

Addressing the recent scandals

With issues going on such as Penn State, Slive kept his thoughts short and sweet. (Via Orlando Sentinel beat writer, Rachel George):

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Mike Slive alludes to PSU: "No one person, no matter how popular or how successful, can be allowed to derail the soul of an institution"

— Rachel George (@OS_RachelGeorge) July 17, 2012"

Of course, Penn State has a lot going on involving former head coach Joe Paterno and former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. There is even the possibility of the program receiving the death penalty.