The Southeastern Conference sent a strong message to the NCAA on Friday: provide the Big Five some autonomy or they'll form their own division.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said if the Big Five conferences - which also include the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 - don't get the flexibility needed to create their own bylaws, the next step would be to move to ''Division IV.''
''It's not something we want to do,'' Slive said on the final day of the SEC meetings. ''We want to the ability to have autonomy in areas that has a nexus to the well-being of student athletes."