Mr. CFB: SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey: "There Is No Sense Of Urgency In Our League"
At the opening of SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame In Atlanta on Monday, Commissioner Greg Sankey had a clear and distinct message to deliver:
“There is no sense of urgency in our league,” he said in his “state of the conference” address to the media. “We know who we are and we are confident in our collective strength.”
That strength was evident again when Georgia beat Alabama for the 2021 CFP national championship. It was the third straight national title for the SEC and they came from three different schools: LSU (2019), Alabama (2020) and Georgia (2021).
Still, it is not a stretch to say that Sankey opened the 2022 Media Days with more uncertainty than the conference—and college athletics as a whole—has ever faced.
But as he did during the COVID season of 2020, Sankey is taking a measured response to the issues of the day. Here are some excerpts from his talk about those issues:
Name, Image and Likeness: The legislation, that allows student athletes to make money in the free market is about a year old. And we are no closer to having a uniform set of rules for NIL than we were this time last year.
It’s been called the “Wild, Wild West” because that’s what it is.
And the Southeastern Conference commissioner is not too thrilled about it.
“Here is our view. We need a clear, enforceable standard to support national-championship competition and the national championships themselves,” said Sankey.
Does that national standard on NIL come from Congress? This is way down the list of priorities, especially in a mid-term election year.
Does it come from the NCAA? The NCAA as we have known it is done.
Sankey said his coaches were “unanimous and unequivocal” that boosters need to be removed from the NIL process. But how do you do that without a national standard? And how do you do it without being hauled back into court where you will lose?
And if you do get a national standard, who is going to enforce it?
Conference expansion: A year ago at these Media Days a bombshell dropped when it was leaked that Texas and Oklahoma would be joining the SEC by 2025.
Sankey had just started a vacation at the lake on June 30 when the story broke that USC and UCLA would be leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big Ten in 2024.
“So much for our summer vacation,” said Sankey.
Since that news broke there has been a lot of speculation that the SEC would have to respond to the Big Ten move by adding teams from, let’s say, the ACC.
But the fact is the SEC made their moved when they voted to accept Texas and Oklahoma. So as things stand right now, there is no need for the SEC to add any more teams.
If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten, then there will be another conversation.
SEC football Scheduling Model: The SEC came out of its Spring Meetings in Destin with the news that it was committed to doing away with divisional play, which has been in place since 1992. The schedule models discussed were keeping the current eight games or expanding to nine games, a move to please their fans and television partners.
There are issues there.
With no divisions the SEC will take its top two teams to play in the conference championship game. But in order to do that the SEC will go back to the drawing board to expand and refine its tie-breaking procedures.
“With a single division we’ll have to drill down a little deeper (on the tiebreakers,” said Sankey.
And here’s another issue when thinking about the scheduling model the SEC will ultimately choose. If the SEC goes to a nine-game conference schedule, that’s nine more losses that will be spread throughout the league. That extra loss could mean the difference in getting to a bowl or not getting to a bowl.
There is also the fact that with a nine-game schedule half the conference would play five games at home while the other half would play four games at home.
Sankey shared an interesting story from the spring meetings in Destin. You’ll recall that those meetings were not long after the spat between Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher and Alabama Coach Nick Saban. In remarks to a meeting of business people in Birmingham, Saban said that Fisher “bought” his No. 1-ranked recruiting class. A livid Fisher called out Saban in a next-day press conference, calling the comments “despicable.”
It was all created by the uncertainty of the NIL and the stresses it has caused for those who work in major college athletics.
Sankey met with his football coaches at Destin, where he was expected to give them a verbal dressing down. He shared his comments with reporters.
“Here is what I told our coaches,” said Sankey. “It is never going to be the same, but it doesn’t have to be the way that it is. We’re dealing with complex problems that won’t be solved by complaints, by accusations, by finger-pointing or by offering simple solutions.
“What is needed now is collaboration, deep thinking about real world solutions and everyone participating in the conversation.”
Nick Saban appears on Tuesday in Atlanta. Jimbo Fisher will be one of the final coaches to speak on Thursday, the final day of the meetings.
While the SEC is in a very strong position, Sankey said, it will not be complacent to the problems that exist.
“Do we face headwinds in college football sports? Absolutely. It’s actually not new,” said Sankey. “It’s a decades-old problem. Those decades-old problems now rest firmly in our agendas.”
Sankey did bring a bit of levity to the final moments of his talk when he was asked if he thought the SEC was on the way to being a “super league.”
“This IS a super league,” said Sankey.
His point?
The SEC, which has won 12 of the last 16 national championships by five different schools (Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida), is about to add Texas and Oklahoma to its ranks.
Case closed.