A few days ago, I recounted a long, impressive list of SEC achievements in the last school year. The account was so glowing, I'm awaiting a check from the SEC Office.

I mentioned the SEC's seven national championships in the current school year and even pointed out the accomplishments of former SEC stars like Tennessee's Peyton Manning (Super Bowl MVP) and Florida's David Eckstein (World Series MVP). But despite the meticulous work of this column's research department, something was left out.

It wasn't something the SEC did. It was something the SEC didn't do.

It didn't run afoul of the NCAA. And that's not just a one-year aberration.

You think SEC commissioner Mike Slive is happy about the SEC's banner school year? He's just as pleased that it hasn't been sullied by an NCAA probation sentence.

"We are winning championships and we are competing better than ever," Slive said in a telephone interview. "We're walking down Main Street, not a side street."

It's by design, not happenstance. After five years on the job, Slive is right on schedule. And I'm as surprised as anyone.

Four years ago, at the SEC football media days in Birmingham, Slive said his goal was to have no conference schools on NCAA probation in five years. My next thought: "And you are from what planet?"

Slive, who was then in his second year as commissioner, was commissioner of Conference USA before moving up to the SEC. His resume revealed an extensive background in law and sports administration. Moreover, he had served as chair of the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee.

But for all his education, what did he know about a conference where cheating and championships so often have gone hand in hand? Slive is a native of Utica, N.Y., with an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth. How does that prepare you for Auburn vs. Alabama? How does that prepare you for a conference with a NASCAR flair for breaking rules?

So when Slive announced his law-and-order agenda, I suppressed a snicker, but not a smirk. Four years later, the smirk is gone, the commissioner is on schedule, and the league is a year away from being off probation.

The conference landscape looked altogether different in 2003. Four programs were on NCAA probation, and Alabama - the conference's once-marquee football program - was serving hard time for its sizeable financial investments in recruiting.

"I wanted to focus on changing the culture," Slive said.

And he wanted to do it face-to-face.

In his first three months as commissioner, Slive said he and other SEC officials met with about 2,400 people throughout the conference. Their audience included university presidents, administrators, coaches, student-athletes, secretaries and just about anyone else who wandered down an athletic department corridor.

The SEC then created a task force on NCAA compliance and enforcement, which developed policies and procedures to assist conference schools in compliance and enforcement matters. As a result, conference schools are self-reporting more violations. As another result, the NCAA seems less interested in sorting through their dirty laundry.

Don't get the wrong idea. A task force, no matter how forceful, can't break the perverse bond between jock-sniffing boosters and college athletes, particularly in an area where so many fans are so passionate about football.

Hundred-dollar handshakes aren't going away. Several years of relatively clean living won't overhaul a reputation that was decades in the making.

But you can't argue with the bottom line. Three SEC schools - South Carolina and Mississippi State in football and Georgia in basketball - remain on probation, but without sanctions. By next spring, they should be as clean as Vanderbilt.

And if the SEC commissioner decides a celebration is in order, he can schedule a parade - right down Main Street.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.