DESTIN, Fla. -- In the wake of the Cam Newton situation last fall, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said "minor changes" will be made in how the conference reports accusations of NCAA violations to the national office.

The NCAA has talked with the SEC and other major conferences about creating a more uniform process of informing college sports' governing body of possible violations. Months passed in the Newton situation last year without action.

"We've reached an accommodation as to the kinds of issues they (the NCAA) have had in mind, and what they want to know, when they want to know," Slive said, without elaborating on details. "Those are relatively simple things for us to accommodate. There may be certain issues that they want to know about earlier than others. We have no problem reaching that accommodation."

Speaking in early May, NCAA Director of Enforcement Julie Roe Lach said she has had positive talks with Slive and SEC Associate Commissioner Greg Sankey about informing the NCAA of accusations as early as possible.

"I believe they're going to try and deal with the information in terms of what's the best way to fully vet this," Roe Lach said. "Because we're the trained experts on how to conduct investigations, it makes sense for us to get involved on the front end as opposed to having to come in on the back end and possibly replow ground."

Mississippi State said it informed the SEC of concerns about Newton's recruitment in January 2010. The SEC claimed it asked for more information, but it didn't arrive until July because of a heavy workload in Mississippi State's compliance department.

The NCAA, which came onto the case later, ruled that Newton's father and an owner of a scouting service collaborated on a pay-for-play scenario to get Newton to Mississippi State. The NCAA said it didn't have sufficient evidence that Auburn or Cam Newton knew of the plan so he was reinstated for the SEC Championship Game.

Before the SEC office decides whether to send a full report to the NCAA, the SEC's process calls for the accused school to provide all relevant information and determine if a violation has occurred. The accused school is asked to respond within 30 days. However, the NCAA has stressed the importance of not tipping off the accused too soon in an investigation.

"I think the 30-day window has been very misunderstood," Slive said. "All that is is a procedural matter to make sure we got things on a timely basis. The NCAA understood that. Some of the public discussion was misunderstood."

'We're very comfortable'

NCAA issues are back in the news for the SEC. Alabama is on probation until June 2012. Tennessee goes before the Committee on Infractions this month. South Carolina has received a letter of inquiry. And there are on-going probes at LSU and Auburn.

When Slive arrived in 2002, the SEC faced more NCAA infractions cases than any conference. Mark Emmert, then the LSU's chancellor and now NCAA president, appointed the SEC Task Force on Compliance that created new reporting policies.

The SEC previously acted as investigators and took information from individuals. The SEC's stated process changed by making a university's CEO or athletics director responsible for determining whether to make an allegation to the SEC office. The goal was to get the SEC probation-free within five years, although that didn't happen.

"If I have an issue with another school and I've called and reported it, it's always been managed and handled the way I feel like it should be," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "Now, they don't always find what I maybe thought was out there. But it's always worked well and I always thought their honesty, integrity and professionalism shouldn't be questioned at all."

But as the Newton case unfolded last November, there was a significant gap between when the SEC was notified of the accusations and when action took place. At the time, Slive suggested disappointment in Mississippi State for not following SEC procedures and providing necessary follow-up information.

Even if no violation is determined, the NCAA says it wants to know about the accusations to follow trends.

"But we also don't have authority to demand conferences tell us information, and I don't think that's a good way of doing business," Roe Lach said. "I think it's more how can we collaborate more with you to try and come to a common understanding, and I think we're getting there. We're just not there yet."

Roe Lach said many conferences are pausing to understand their role in enforcement, especially situations that involve teams from the same league. She learned that all six major conferences have different philosophies on reporting accusations.

"The SEC was different in the fact they have a written policy," Roe Lach said. "Many other conferences haven't gone that far to try and capture what the expectation is within that conference in dealing with issues."

Slive said the SEC has since had appropriate dialogue with Mississippi State "and we're at a comfortable place with them now." Mississippi State Athletics Director Scott Stricklin said the school was not penalized by the SEC.

"I think what happened last year is an opportunity for us to reassess and make sure that we're where we all need to be as far as working within the league guidelines," Stricklin said. "I've said all along, we had integrity in the way we managed the recruitment of the young man."

Said Slive: "Everybody in our league knows exactly what we expect of them. We're very comfortable with that. We're very comfortable with our relationship with the NCAA. We've always been that way."

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