Michael Lawrence Slive (July 26, 1940 – May 16, 2018) was an American attorney and college sports executive. Slive was the

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC), a college athletics association, from 2002 until 2015.

Early life and education

Slive was born on July 26, 1940 in

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

. His father Sol Slive owned a meat market and hoped for Mike to become a doctor. Slive was the quarterback of Utica Free Academy's high school football team, and became the first person in his family to attend college, when he enrolled in

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

as a premed and played college football. However, he soon switched from football to lacrosse, and from medicine to law. While at Dartmouth, he was president of Alpha Theta fraternity. He worked as a unionized meat cutter to pay for his tuition. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1962. He earned a J.D. from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1965 and an LL.M. from the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

in 1966.

Career

Slive began his career in 1969 as assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth College. Slive became the seventh commissioner of the SEC on July 1, 2002. He was the first commissioner of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

from 1995 to 2002, and the first commissioner of the

Great Midwest Conference The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995. History It was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Be ...

upon its founding in 1991. Early in his life, he practiced law in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, serving as judge of the

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

District Court from 1972 to 1977, and was a partner in a Chicago law firm. He was assistant director of athletics at

, assistant executive director of the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

, and director of athletics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1981 to 1983. In 1990, he became senior partner and founder of the Mike Slive-Mike Glazier Sports Group, a legal practice specializing in representing colleges and universities in athletics-related matters. As part of his role as the SEC Commissioner, he served as the coordinator of the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a college football post-season selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of America ...

for the 2006 and 2007 regular seasons. He was a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee through September 2009 and served as the chairman of the committee for the 2008–09

academic year An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and university, universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classe ...

. He retired as commissioner effective July 31, 2015. He chaired the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee and the National Letter of Intent Steering Committee. In 2009, Slive was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame.

Death

In his later years, Slive was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Before his death, he co-founded the Mike Slive Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research. He died on May 16, 2018, age 77, in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Liz, and their daughter, Anna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slive, Michael 1940 births 2018 deaths Conference USA commissioners Cornell University faculty Cornell Big Red athletic directors Dartmouth College alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni Southeastern Conference commissioners University of Virginia School of Law alumni Businesspeople from Utica, New York Lawyers from Birmingham, Alabama 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers