Changing of the guard in the SEC?

Skip Bertman will be the AD at LSU through 2008 and have a two-year "athletic director emeritus'' role after that.

But some of the 69-year-old Bertman's counterparts might not be so lucky.

Talk in Arkansas is that Razorbacks AD Frank Broyles is going to announce his resignation either Friday or Saturday. The 82-year-old Broyles would be just another casualty in the Arkansas saga that began after the offseason with Mitch Mustain and the Springdale players.

Mississippi State announced earlier this week that it will begin looking for Larry Templeton's replacement. Templeton is 60.

It appears there is a changing of the guard in the SEC.

Broyles was a legendary football coach. Bertman a legendary baseball coach.

One wonders if Florida's Jeremy Foley isn't the wave of the future in the SEC. He's a guy who once fired a coach after losing in the NCAA Tournament. He fired a football coach in midseason after a loss to Mississippi State.

The SEC is becoming a high-stakes game. Whoever joins the elite group of 12 will be swimming with sharks.