Copyright Arkansas Online
There may have been a bit of deja vu for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey during the Little Rock Touchdown Club's luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel on Tuesday. When the New York native previously spoke at the organization's weekly meeting in 2019, the University of Arkansas' football program was going through somewhat of a transition. Fast forward six years, and the school is again in the middle of a similar shift. "Chad Morris had just been fired eight days previous," club co-founder David Bazzel said to Sankey, referring to his prior appearance at the gathering on Nov. 18, 2019. "So you came in and then three weeks later, Dec. 8, 2019, Sam Pittman was hired. So here you are again, and we have a fired coach and an interim coach. So I don't know if we should not invite you back again or what." Bazzel's banter, which drew laughter from many of those in attendance, was one of several lighthearted interactions he and others had with one of the country's most influential figures in collegiate athletics. Before Sankey officially sat down to speak, there was a video tribute played that showed a number of past guests, from Pro Football Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor, Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis to prominent ESPN sideline reporters Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge, speaking highly about the support and hospitality that Bazzel and others routinely show during the luncheons. Sankey, followed suit by offering praise for the renowned club, but that was just one of several topics he touched upon, including his current role in what's considered by many as the nation's top league. Sankey, who started his career at Utica (N.Y.) College as the director of intramural sports, was the commissioner of the Southland Conference before being hired by the SEC's then-commissioner, the late Mike Slive, in 2002 to be an associate commissioner. After Slive, who succeeded Roy Kramer, retired in 2015, Sankey took over the position and has since been at the forefront of a number of landmark changes in the conference. "Just an honor to follow in their footsteps," Sankey said of Slive and Kramer. "There's a level of pressure that's inexplicable because you know how high the expectations are, both under them and to follow them." Expectations are certainly high in the conference, mainly because of the national success its programs have had. However, that may be also be a big reason why so many coaching changes have occurred over the past two decades, particularly in football. Since 2007, Arkansas will have had six head-coaching changes by the time it hires a replacement for Pittman, who was fired in September. Bobby Petrino, who was fired in 2012 but was hired to be Pittman's offensive coordinator in 2023, was named the interim coach. Pittman, however, isn't the only coach to be let go this year. Billy Napier was relieved of his duties at Florida, Brian Kelly was replaced at LSU and Hugh Freeze was removed at Auburn after each were signed to large contracts. On the flip side, all received huge buyouts after their firings. That entire aspect, Sankey admitted, can potentially be reeled in. "It's challenging to rein in, so there's not one circumstance," he said. "In isolation, one could say look at the football coaches that changed on an annual basis. That sounds like a lot relatively speaking, and it is. But then go examine the pace of change among presidents and chancellors. We just had an in-person meeting in October. "A year ago, a third of the participants this October, at the presidential level, were not in that meeting. That's actually a higher rate of turnover than our football coaches. On the buyout issue, what I say, because I don't negotiate those, those are done locally, I think it rings a bit hollow. I think it's hard to sit and talk about some of the pressures we have with these buyout numbers and feel good." Sankey has piloted several notable moves with the SEC, such as the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the conference in 2021. Additionally, he helped the league secure a media rights deal with Disney and has aided in changes being made to the College Football Playoff format. Sankey talked about a plethora of other things, such as the name, image and likeness initiatives and the transfer portal components. But he also commented on in-game targeting calls as well as the complaints the league has been receiving about its overall officiating. In essence, there weren't many topics that he didn't hit during his latest trip to Little Rock. "We've got a set of standards where something's just misapplied," he said about officiating. "You can't comment on every judgement call because it will be seen differently. And I'll go back to accountability. You can go on our website, we put out our weekly process in football officiating. It's there for people to see. Included in there is accountability, and I mean that respectively. "We apply -- and I've told our athletic directors and our football coaches just like it happens in our athletic programs -- internal team discipline. Because I think it's difficult to put all of it out publicly and actually build confidence to help people understand what's happening. We're going to have to continue to think about how we communicate and adjust."
