BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- When the SEC staged its first football media days in 1979, it was a quaint gathering at the then-Birmingham Hilton, just up the road from the league offices.

About 60 media members attended. Coaches from the 10 schools spoke in the one-day affair.

Compare that with the now-three-day event that opens today at the Wynfrey Hotel here in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover. There are 12 schools and coaches, and two players from each school.

They will meet with more than 1,000 credentialed media members, bouncing from a large ballroom for print media, to smaller meetings rooms for intimate settings with radio and TV.

And don't forget "Radio Row," about a 30-yard stretch of hotel corridor lined with radio talk shows broadcasting live. If you're a coach walking through there without the protection of a sports information director, it's like a customer walking on to the lot at an automobile dealership. You get swarmed from every direction.

This season, there are no new coaches in the SEC for the first time since the early '80s, although a couple (Kentucky's Rich Brooks and Arkansas' Houston Nutt) are expected to be on the hot seat.

Popular topics of conversation are expected to be:

• Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville discussing the alleged academic scandal involving the football program, as reported recently by the New York Times.

• Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron addressing the whereabouts of not-yet-eligible quarterback signee Brent Schaeffer.

• Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer talking about the impact of new offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe on erratic quarterback Erik Ainge.

• LSU coach Les Miles on his starting-quarterback debate between JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn.

• Georgia coach Mark Richt simply trying to find a starting quarterback.

• South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, well, just opening his mouth and telling it like it is.

• Alabama coach Mike Shula on the health status of receiver Tyrone Prothro.

• Florida coach Urban Meyer saying if his spread-option offense fits starting QB Chris Leak any better this year than it did last year.

• Arkansas' Nutt and Kentucky's Brooks on the impact of new offensive playcalling minds Gus Malzahn and Randy Sanders respectively.

• Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom on whether his program can make any visible progress in year three.

• Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson on life without graduated All-SEC quarterback Jay Cutler.