By: Ryan Lavoie
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey opened SEC Media Days 2022 to the tune of a changing landscape in college football. Gone are the days where geography and tradition are primary drivers in college football. Now, like just about anything, the m word drives the sport, its’ institutions, and its’ players. The commissioner offered little news on the hot button issues of NIL, realignment, and scheduling. Instead, his comments were directed at the procedures in which these key elements are determined. Further confirmation that the league intends there to be only one division once Oklahoma and Texas join in 2025, and that congress needs to set a national NIL standard, as opposed to a bunch of different states laws, were as much information as Sankey was willing to give.
Of potential note, while Sankey did suggest a 4 team, 8 team, or 12 team playoff model was sufficient, his clear preference is no automatic qualifiers, which of course would benefit the conference which typically has multiple teams rank above the champion of some of the other conferences. Doubling back to the topic of Oklahoma and Texas, when asked if the timeline could get moved up from July 1, 2025, Sankey said simply “it’s not up to me.” Therefore as expected, only the two institutions and the Big 12 can actually do something to change that departure/arrival date. It’s still unclear where some of the issues will land, but as commissioner Sankey likes to quote from Bob Dylan: “the times they are a changing.”
Also at the podium was Brian Kelly, the now LSU coach is experiencing his first media days of any kind since 2009. While there were a few references to the attempt at being southern made by Kelly in the weeks following his hiring, Kelly’s keyword for the program is development. “I’ve had success at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Central Michigan, wherever I’ve been. So running a program and then player development, I think those are the most important things.” Kelly is right, he has been a developer, but in this league he will also have to be a great recruiter to take LSU where it has been, and where it wants to stay.
Meanwhile, Lane Kiffin is not a big fan of the way NIL is being handled, and presented some ideas of how it should be managed, “I think ideally, if we’re going to be in an NIL world, somehow you’re going to do it right, it’s going to get capped so that there’s some way of controlling it and keeping playing fields close to the same. Otherwise, you’re just going to have these glaring differences within Division 1 football based off of what I’ve said before, their salary cap…. Ideally I would think that the coach should be part of managing that…. That’s based off of look what happens in professional sports. There’s salary caps. The coach and the general manager/owner manage that.”
Kiffin went on to voice concerns over boosters paying players and the coaches not having as much control over that part of it and potentially being told who to play based off who the boosters paid. Again, Kiffin is not alone, although the salary cap thought is different, everyone, coaches included, are concerned about the status of NIL.
For some Auburn flavor, Eliah Drinkwitz was asked about the trip his Missouri Tigers will take to Auburn this year, given it’s where he started his career: “I mean, obviously it’s not really going to be a time of reflection for me. We’ve got a job to do. We had a great experience at Auburn. Once you’re a part of Auburn, you’re always a part of Auburn. Obviously the experience to win a national championship, I thought college football was relatively easy when that happened.”
Along with reflection on his time at Auburn, Drinkwitz voiced concerns over NIL, a theme that will reoccur all week. As Commissioner Sankey told the coaches at the SEC spring meetings in Destin: “It is never going to be the same, but it doesn’t have to be the way that it is.”
