Power, influence is growing for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey

Dallas-Greg Sankey recalls a toast by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Roy Kramer in 2015 to commemorate the tenure of Mike Slive, who retired from SEC skillfully for 13 years.

When Sanky was preparing to take over the mentor, Kramer told the athletic director in attendance that the new commissioner would help them more than anyone who had occupied the office to “navigate unknown waters.” He said he needed.

“And that’s very true,” Sankey said in an hour-long interview at a hotel in Dallas prior to yet another meeting on the expansion of the College Football Playoff.

A 57-year-old from northern New York who cut his teeth at a small school and jumped to the SEC from the Southland Conference, he’s certainly got a job so far. In his six years as a commissioner, the SEC has become bigger, stronger and more impressive. He was also an agent of change and was watched carefully by some as he shook extraordinarily.

On Saturday, Sankey is in Atlanta for the SEC’s best event: As is often the case with the SEC-1st Georgia vs. 4th Alabama for a conference title in one of the biggest games of the college football season. One or both will be in the playoffs.

In the last two years alone, Sankey has helped the SEC sign a new $ 350 million broadcast rights deal with ESPN, leading to pandemic uncertainty. He is part of a group of four and plans to expand the highly popular and profitable playoffs to 12 teams while expanding SEC membership to 16 schools with additional landscape changes in Texas and Oklahoma. I set it up. And more recently, Sunkey has been appointed co-chair of the Commission to lead efforts to rebuild the NCAA’s top divisions.

Sankey can easily be called the most powerful person in college sports, but he very much wants not. The title implies to him that he will be led by power and demand.

“I use the words influence and effectiveness. I’m in the position of another committee member and people have listened to me but I don’t like it now. And I’m fully aware of it. And I think that’s why you need to include the effect. But you can play a role and it’s not terribly effective. The influence diminishes rapidly. “

Even before taking over Slive, Sankey was effective and influential beyond the SEC.

He is an NCAA policymaker and has created rules for the five wealthiest and most successful conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) in some areas where he has no say. Created a law that gave the autonomy to pass. From the rest of the membership.

In a sense, the move in 2015 was a precursor to college sports. Rebuilding Division I, decentralizing governance, and unemphasizing the role of NCAA itself. Now, even if the process is speeding up, it has taken a considerable amount of time. Perhaps worthy of a marathon runner, Sanky, appointed by Ohio’s athletic director Julie Cromer and co-chair of the Division I Board of the Transformation Commission in October.

The autonomous model was Sankey’s idea, but he said he didn’t fully form the idea for the new Division I and didn’t think it was necessary for the task.

“I encourage everyone to bring their thoughts, but it’s not a solid vision,” he said. “I think these ideas help us challenge our perspectives and think more deeply about what we put here.”

Among many of his peers, Sankey is the ideal person to help guide this change as the NCAA under President Mark Emmert gives more power and responsibility to its 1,200 schools.

“If you’re sitting in a chair and the chair is strong, you’re responsible for maximizing your abilities for the cause,” said ASun Conference Commissioner Ted Gambert. “And for him, the cause is the SEC, which means NCAA.”

Can Sankey provide leadership and direction that is of greatest benefit to both conferences and other college sports with nearly unmatched wealth, reach and resources?

“It’s not catching up with me tonight,” said Central American Congressman John Steinblecher. “I am very pleased with the people who lead the Transformation Committee and the many people on that committee.”

Emmart said he’s heard some college sports raise concerns about Sanky’s growing influence, but he recognizes the value he brings.

“He has a lot of skills and knowledge and is clearly an excellent man who can help find a solution,” Emart said. “Because the head of what many claim is the current dominant football conference, he is in a position that can be polarized. And it’s the person sitting there now. It also applies to. “

For those who may be skeptical about whether Sanky can be balanced, he says:’I can answer people’s questions. I can’t answer your suspicions. I think they ask questions when people are fair. “

He also states: “College sports I don’t have to save it.”

Sankey uses his push for playoff expansion as an example of his willingness to work for greater benefit. He often says that the current four-team model is suitable for the SEC, and he is right. The SEC team created the CFP Championship Game in 6 of the 7 seasons and won 4 times.

“We want Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and in the future other teams to participate in more games to achieve the national championship,” he said. We do not.

“We are not the ones who excluded five of the first seven, and perhaps six of the first eight,” he said, referring to Pac-12. Football is a national sport. We have a duty to consider how to attract people so that we can expand the strength of college football, not just defending our situation. “

Perhaps the biggest reason the expansion process was dragged through the fall was the drop of the SEC readjustment bomb in July.

After the news leaked, Texas and Oklahoma talked with Sankey about leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC, and then both moved swiftly to make it official. Longhorns and Sooners are set to join in 2025, but the move may be faster.

Domino, knocked over by Sanky and the SEC, confused multiple meetings for months, spilled into Conference USA, and almost completely collapsed.

Mr. Sanky is well aware of the impact of adding Oklahoma and Texas on other meetings, which he said “weighs heavily” on him. He also said that ACC and Big Ten caused similar confusion.

In response to the SEC’s move, Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12 have formed an alliance that hopes to lead to further collaboration in the field and off.

“I was still interested,” Sankey said of the alliance.

Sanky said he often recalls Kramer’s visionary toast and conversation with Slive the day he moved to his now-deceased friend’s office at SEC headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama.

Both predecessors understood that Sanky was becoming more complex and embarking on a more influential task.

“And you don’t understand expectations, tensions and pressures until you sit in a chair,” he said. “I wanted a leadership challenge, and I still want that leadership challenge. But there’s nothing easy about what we’re facing. And we’re all I think we need to be honest about that reality in college sports. It doesn’t mean we can’t meet the challenges. “

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https://twitter.com/ralphDrusso RalphD at AP. Follow Russo and listen at https://ift.tt/2CXiStx.

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Power, influence is growing for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey

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