SEC MEDIA DAYS: Sankey speaks on conference vision in inaugural address

HOOVER — For the past 12 years, Greg Sankey has looked on silently from his spot in the back of the room as former Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive delivered his annual state of the SEC address.

This time around, however, Sankey — who took over Slive’s position on June 1 — found himself in a different kind of spotlight.

Front and center for SEC Media Days.

The newly minted commissioner made his inaugural trip to the main podium at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover on Monday, speaking on a variety of topics ranging from his brief time at the helm, his goals for the future and how he plans to lead the nation’s most talked about conference in the years to come.

“As you can imagine, this is a bit of a moment for me,” Sankey said. “I’ve usually stood and watched Mike up here.”

Sankey had served recently as the SEC’s executive associate commissioner and chief operating officer under Slive, freeing the latter to tackle such big issues as the SEC Network and the College Football Playoff. Despite Slive stepping down due to health issues, Sankey has seamlessly filled the shoes of his predecessor so far this summer.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Compliance

The SEC recently enacted a rule banning its schools from accepting transfers who were dismissed from a previous school due to issues involving domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Sankey said the SEC will form working groups to look at “conduct expectations” for athletes and the NCAA environment.

“Our goal is to never return a championship, never pull down a championship banner, never vacate any wins, never have a team banned from postseason play due to NCAA infractions,” Sankey said. “We have a great opportunity to lead national policy. We’ll do great work to ensure we’re in the right place from the standpoint of oversight and policy.

The conference is adding a position — director of student-athlete engagement — to focus on those particular situations.


“Our Communities”

Despite the recent efforts of Pac-12 schools and the University of Texas to play a regular season game overseas, Sankey isn’t dancing to the same beat.

Rather, the commish said the influence that college football maintains would be better focused on the surrounding areas of specific programs.

“It’s not about playing games in London or Asia or South America,” he said. “The great strength of the SEC is in our communities.”

He then went on to list every single college town in the conference as reference.

“It will be through those communities that we educate and develop young people who will be our future leaders,” he said.


Honoring Mike

As a tribute to Slive’s ongoing battle with prostate cancer, each of the 14 teams in the SEC will assign a prostate awareness game during the month of September that’ll serve as a tribute to the commissioner’s 13 years atop the conference and his courage in living with the dreaded illness.


Championship or Bust

Since Sankey’s induction as commissioner, LSU’s men’s golf team and Florida’s softball team have each won national championships.

That’s nothing new for the SEC.

Although the conference won’t be 100 percent in its quest for perfection, Sankey is adamant it won’t do without, either.

“We aspire to win every championship,” he said. “I can assure you we haven’t given up and our expectations are great for success. We might not win them all, but we will try to accomplish that goal and do so with our heads held high.”


Back to School

Sankey put a large emphasis on student-athletes. In fact, he mentioned several former athletes — Cam Newton, Shaquille O’Neal, Earl Bennett and Randall Cobb, among others — as a few who’ve stayed in touch with their alma maters and eventually returned to earn their college degrees at some point during or after their playing careers.

“We seek to graduate every athlete by developing a college-going culture in our states, throughout our region and across this country,” he said. “And we will focus on enhancing the lifelong link that’s established between our student-athletes and our universities. And there are a multitude of meaningful illustrations about how we can achieve our goals, sometimes in new ways, of graduating them.”