What Sankey said to open SEC media days

[aubiefifty 18,248]

What Greg Sankey said to open SEC media days

By Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com

3-4 minutes

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Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)AP

Welcome to the 2022 college football season with Greg Sankey unofficially kicking things off in Atlanta. Instead of Hoover, the SEC media days show moved to Atlanta this year and the commissioner is getting things started.

We’ll have all the updates from his time at the podium. Refresh the page for the latest.

-- Sankey is off to a fast start quoting Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Jeff Spicoli. He ran through the history of the SEC in Atlanta before moving on to football, noting the SEC had the last three national champions, all different schools.

-- Sankey notes six different SEC schools have won national titles since the BCS era began.

-- “It will never be the same, but it doesn’t have to be the way it is,” Sankey said he told coaches at the SEC spring meetings a few weeks ago. He said the participation at the event in Destin was at an all-time high in discussions across the board this year.

-- “There’s no sense of urgency. No panic in our reaction to others’ reaction,” Sankey said while referencing moves from other conferences.

-- The football scheduling decisions are still being made with the focus on a single-division model with eight or nine conference games on the table.

-- Sankey is touching on the monumental changes that will be coming to the way the NCAA governs college athletics while noting the inefficiencies in the current model. They won’t be tweaks. It’s going to be major.

-- Sankey said football coaches at the SEC spring meetings were “unanimous” when saying boosters should not be a part of the NIL process.

-- “The SEC will not be complacent even with the knowledge we’re in a position of strength,” Greg Sankey said.

-- “That’s not up to me,” Sankey said when asked if Texas and Oklahoma could come earlier than the 2025 date. He said that’s a matter for the Big 12.

-- Asked about NIL solutions from congress, Sankey said he never expected this congress to make the move given the issues in the world and the fact it’s a midterm election year. It was more about laying the groundwork for the future.

-- Is the SEC looking to expand beyond 16 teams? Sankey said they’re “attentive” to the situation at hand and they get inquiries but they are comfortable with 16 teams.

-- “We are a super league,” Sankey said when asked about the possibility of super leagues taking over college football.

-- Sankey said he wasn’t aware of the Big Ten moves with USC and UCLA before they were announced June 30.

-- When asked if the SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma trumps the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA, Sankey said “yes.”

-- NIL is “uncomfortable” but they have to work through the discomfort.

-- The Texas and Oklahoma athletics directors were included in the teleconference a few weeks ago to discuss scheduling since it will involve them down the road. They didn’t invite either to Destin for spring meetings because it would be a distraction.

[AUwent 3,833]

https://www.al.com/sec/2022/07/texas-oklahoma-wont-leave-early-for-sec-want-to-do-the-honorable-thing-by-big-12.html

The Big 12 is getting a new commish in August, so this could definitely change. But for now, argh.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's years before we actually know the schedule format. 😒

Edited July 19, 2022 by AUwent

[woodford 3,732]

“Sankey said football coaches at the SEC spring meetings were “unanimous” when saying boosters should not be a part of the NIL process.“

Hahaha oh ok