The SEC is making more money than ever. It's winning more national championships than ever.

Amidst such success, it's appropriate the league honor those who have helped it achieve fame and fortune.

That's why, on the eve of this year's SEC spring meetings, I'm proposing the conference present a "lifetime achievement award" to a school from another conference that has made a significant contribution to the success of the SEC. And there's no debating who the first winner should be.

It's "The Ohio State University."

That's the same Ohio State University that gained all of 82 yards in a 41-14 loss to Florida in the BCS national championship game in January. That's also the same Ohio State University that lost to Florida in the Final Four national championship game.

Don't think Florida wasn't grateful to Ohio State. A former Gator by the name of Steve Spurrier said, "It's looks like we've officially made Ohio State Runner-up U."

But Ohio State's contributions to the SEC extend beyond one school or one year.

In the 1978 Sugar Bowl, Bear Bryant's Alabama team beat Woody Hayes' Ohio State team 35-6. That was the first of eight consecutive Ohio State bowl losses to SEC teams.

In January of 2002, South Carolina won bowl games in consecutive years for the first time in school history. Guess whom it beat both times.

Answer: The Ohio State University.

Aside from the national championship game victory in 1999, Tennessee's biggest bowl win of the Phillip Fulmer era was against favored Ohio State in the 1996 Citrus Bowl. Auburn's most one-sided bowl victory of the last 30 years was against Ohio State.

Even Georgia's Ray Goff won a bowl game against Ohio State.

Dean Fulmer: Fulmer has been the dean of SEC football coaches for several years. But you can't fully appreciate that unless you consider the competition.

Fulmer attended his first SEC spring meetings as UT's head coach in May of 1993. The other league coaches were Steve Spurrier at Florida, Ray Goff at Georgia, Bill Curry at Kentucky, Sparky Woods at South Carolina, Rod Dowhower at Vanderbilt, Gene Stallings at Alabama, Terry Bowden at Auburn, Joe Kines at Arkansas, Curley Hallman at LSU, Billy Brewer at Ole Miss, and Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State.

Since then, LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss have hired four coaches apiece; Ole Miss, Kentucky and South Carolina have hired three. Five other SEC schools have made two coaching changes since Fulmer became a head coach.

Fulmer has been at UT for 14 full seasons. The other five coaches in the SEC East have been in their jobs for 19 years combined.

Coaching Upgrades: The change in coaches hasn't worked to UT's advantage.

UT's three toughest opponents in the SEC East are Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Alabama is its annual opponent from the SEC West.

In 1993, only two of those four schools had successful head coaches. South Carolina had Woods then and Spurrier now; Georgia had Goff then and Mark Richt now.

While South Carolina and Georgia have improved themselves dramatically with coaching hires, Alabama (Stallings to Nick Saban) and Florida (Spurrier to Urban Meyer) each has replaced one national championship coach with another one.

Final Foresight: Tennessee Lady Vols athletic director Joan Cronan already was in favor of playing the women's Final Four a week after the men's Final Four. The recent success of the UT men has given her another reason to promote the change.

"I think pretty soon we'll have (UT) men and women (teams) in the Final Four," Cronan said. "I want our donors, our corporate people, fans and media to be able to go to both."

Cronan said there has been more conversation on the subject at a national level, and she's hopeful the national committee on women's basketball eventually will embrace the idea. The committee, comprised of college administrators, is constantly looking at ways to improve the sport.

Consider The Source: Just when you thought Alabama fans' hatred for Fulmer had run its course, you hear a condo commercial on a Birmingham, Ala., radio station.

"It's so close, you could spit on Fulmer from here," was one of the lines in a radio commercial advertising new condominiums near Bryant-Denny Stadium.

As distasteful as the commercial might sound, Fulmer can take it as a compliment. He's 10-3-1 versus Alabama.

Alabama fans eventually might figure out Fulmer isn't their only nemesis. Auburn's Tommy Tuberville has won six of eight games, including five in a row, against the Tide.