6/5/2014 ESPN.

com - UCF coach: Sport ' in real trouble'

http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=11035773&type=story 1/2
ESPN.com: College Football [Print without images]
Thursday, June 5, 2014
UCF coach: Sport 'in real trouble'
ESPN.com news servi ces
At least one college football coach isn't happy about the SEC threatening to take their ball and leave if the Power
Five conferences aren't granted autonomy by the NCAA.
Central Florida coach George O'Leary, in fact, put a historical spin on SEC commissioner Mike Slive's threat of
forming a "Division IV" if the league -- along with the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and the Pac-12 -- don't get the
flexibility needed to create their own bylaws.

They're trying to go the other way and create an even wider gap between the haves and
have-nots. I think some of these schools have forgotten where they came from
-- George O'Leary, UCF coach
"They sound like the South during the Civil War," O'Leary told the Orlando Sentinel earlier this week. "If they
don't get their way, they're going to secede and start their own country. ... I think college football is in real
trouble."
Smaller Division I schools likely can't afford the changes that the SEC and the major conferences are seeking.
And while Division II and Division III have their own rules, forming a Division IV would seemingly create a wider
divide between the Power Five and other smaller schools.
"They're trying to go the other way and create an even wider gap between the haves and have-nots," O'Leary
told the Sentinel of the Power Five and the SEC's threats. "I think some of these schools have forgotten where
they came from."
The SEC wants the NCAA steering committee to adopt its proposal for the voting threshold, which would allow
the Power Five to pass legislation with more ease.
The NCAA board of directors will vote on the steering committee's proposal in August, and it would need a
two-thirds vote of the 65 schools and 15 student representatives to pass.
O'Leary, who previously coached eight seasons at Georgia Tech, has a 72-56 record -- including a 12-1 mark
and a Fiesta Bowl victory in 2013 -- since joining UCF in 2005. The Knights have played in three conferences
during that span, bouncing from the Mid-American Conference to Conference USA in 2005 and to the
6/5/2014 ESPN.com - UCF coach: Sport ' in real trouble'
http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=11035773&type=story 2/2
American Athletic Conference last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.