July 16, 2025 • 12 mins
Highly anticipating the start of another CFB season soon to be underway and discussing a few lingering questions regarding some changes this offseason to the NCAA, Sean and Dan are joined by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discussing a few frequently asked questions regarding the new CFP expansion model, NIL and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is a Sean Salisbury show here on a Western Wednesday.
Dan Matthews live here in Atlanta at SEC Media Days,
and a pleasure right now to be joined by the
Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
He is Greg SANKI.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Greg got me here in Atlanta, Sean Salisbury back in
Houston spending a few minutes with you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I gotta ask you don't really seem like a reactionary person.
And this is a job that has so many just
unknown variables out there that you seem to kind of
see these things coming, Like what do you think kind
of goes into that for you?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Really good people around me. I probably have also learned
from the times I've reacted quickly that you need to
be more thoughtful in those moments and you know, there's
just a lot going on. And if it was an
attempt in I think behind the scenes, I do have
to react on a regular basis, But if it was
(00:56):
an attempt to just constantly be in reactionary moment, which
unfortunately we are, you don't make a lot of progress.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
If that's your strategy, Greg, great to have you on.
If you're overall got something that you want change in
college football or the number one priority overall for the
whole process from high school to college. Just looking at
the landscape, what would it.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Be, So I have to pick one?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, the most important to you?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh wow. You know. The challenge we have is the
combination of the transfer of freedom and nil all at
the same time, which I think creates a lot of
confusion about values. But I think just decoupling those two
from each other you don't really make a lot of progress.
(01:45):
If it was me, i'd provide some clarity, and.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Then I have another question for him.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
A system that is educationally sound, so moving around every
semester every year doesn't lead you down the path to graduation.
I think that would be Oh okay. I got helpful
in the areas of things that we could control. Probably
gonna get sued if you have more restricted policies. That's
why I go back and attach these two. You know,
sound academic policy helping young people make progress. There's nothing
(02:14):
wrong with that sort of oversight. That doesn't mean we
go into lockdown mode. It just means you need a
more systematic way of managing the issues.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Hey, Greg, I can't think of anybody better to ask
this question. It may be unfair, but I'm gonna ask
it anyway because you're always transparent. Is with Nick Saban,
I think the best college coach of all time, and
you know the talk of him coming back, but what
you know of him did the nil and the fact
that it's not regulate how it got we hit that
slippery slope of getting out of hand because Nick's got
(02:45):
some old school in him. Did that force him to
do this to get back in TV? Do you think
that's the number one reason he walked away? Because it
sure seems like he's got a lot of football left
in him.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I asked him that directly. So I think his retirement
was announced not like a Wednesday or Thursday, and I
waited a couple of days and called him just to
check in, and we've talked repeatedly throughout you know, I
think there are a lot of factors. You put that
on the factor list. I don't think that was necessarily
a tipping point for him. Certainly a piece of his
decision making, but he's not the type of person that
(03:18):
takes one issue and says well I'm done, or I
mean because of that, it's a broader look. Now, I
will say on the transparent side. It's been really enjoyable
to visit with him and just watch him where he's
not focused on game preparation or recruiting, think about the game,
and be a bit of a sounding board on some
(03:39):
of the big picture issues we have taking place in
college sports.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well, the dude doesn't get gray hair, Greg, I mean,
for whatever reason, he looks like he's having a lot
of fun on college game day.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
So it's pretty cool to see. Yeah, you know, I
went up to the Texas game at Michigan and it
was the first time I'd seen him in that setting
with Kirk and Reese and and and Pat, and I
asked him. I called him the next week about how
it's going. And then I kind of asked the other
guys around the rest of the season about, you know,
(04:09):
their Friday interactions, their dinners, and I've never been to
one of their Friday dinners. I need to figure out
the place football among that group, which I think would
be fascinating, yes, to be a part of again.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankie joining us here in Atlanta at
SEC media Days, and when it comes to the college
football Playoff, I mean, obviously the SEC has a position
on it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The Big ten has a position on it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You know Brett Yormark last week talking about it from
the Big twelve perspective. How important is it to obviously,
obviously you know what you want is best for the SEC,
but then how much collaboration is needed in order to
get to something that can be agreeable for everyone.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It is a collaborative effort, and they asked about what's
best for the SEC. So the blank, the bottom line
is we never would have gone to twelve. If our
motivation was just what's best for the SEC, we would
have stayed at four. I said that plainly. And if
you think about last year, had we been at four,
you would have had what Oregon and Penn State in
(05:13):
Georgia and Texas that would have been the four. Yes,
So the good that we did for college football is
that Ohio State got into the playoff, that Clemson, that SMU,
that Arizona State had any access, that Boise State had
any access. So the notion that this is all driven
out of self interest is not actually consistent with the evidence.
(05:36):
Now moving forward, I think there's some misunderstanding like this
five whatever notion, there's no doubling down the five conference
champion model is embedded in whatever structure. So whether we
have twelve or fourteen or sixteen, there are five allocated
spots for conference champions. That's not about somebody's opinion. Now,
(05:58):
the question is should we row beyond twelve? Our conference
observed after a lot of talk at our spring meetings
that growth perhaps to sixteen was a point of emphasis,
that that access was important. And I'll give you two
reasons why Alabama and Ole Miss both beat Georgia best
win of last year's season. George is a second ranked
(06:18):
team in the country. If they can play at that
level on any given Saturday, perhaps those type of teams
could make a run. And the expansion is healthy. Now,
how do you invite teams into that that playoff? No
matter what the number is, we said, rather than allocating
automatically more bids, let's look at the selection protocol. We
(06:41):
have interest in the model, and I've said this to Brett,
to Jim Phillips with the acc to Tony Pettiti, and
to all my other bowls in college. We have interest
in this automatic bid model, but we're not committed to that.
What we are interested is improving the selection process. As
thinking of that could be achieved. I think there needs
to be a sense of urgency around that, and hopefully
(07:03):
that's a complete explanation of kind of how we see
the world.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Hey, Greg, about the committee and choose and I know
they put a lot of time and effort in and
maybe this is a naive question, and you oversee the
as powerful a conference as there is in sports period
selection committee. I've always asked why. Maybe it's elementary, but
why is a current athletic We got enough people in
the world that know football and watch it. Why would
(07:28):
a current athletic director that is on a power or
power for school, Why is that person on the committee
you can't help with human nature to lean towards your conference.
Or why is there a person that's an athletic director,
current standing athletic director on that committee? Why do we
do that?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I'm going to give you a couple perspectives. So let's start.
Like the fundamental statement it's come up this week is, Hey,
the NFL doesn't use it committee and select this playoff teams. Okay,
neither does the NBA nor Major League Baseball in the
Major League Soccer know the NHL, But in college the
existence of a selection committee because of the breadth of
programs has involved selection committees in basketball, baseball, whatever. But
(08:12):
for the period of time when the BCS used computer rankings,
and what was the reaction that, well, we need humans involved.
Now that the second point, So the tradition of selection
committees exists in college sports. That's not unique. Now the
question of who should populate the selection committees is an
interesting one the view, and this goes back to twenty fourteen,
(08:33):
and it's a fair question to continue to ask is
who should populate that? And it was felt at that
time and so this predates my role as commissioner. That
involving athletics directors who are in the sport, who are
part of the day to day operations of college football
was healthy, works in other sports, works in basketball, and
(08:54):
adding beyond what other selection committees do those from the outside,
so former coaches, former players, members of the media, people
with significant statures. So think about former Secretary of State
Condolleza Rice with the original committee, that that balance was
appropriate with the kind of refusal so that where there
(09:15):
are conflicts of interest, you can't represent your own school,
or if you were the athletic director and another school,
you might be out of that conversation as well. It's
a fair question to ask. I think the credibility of
the people has been solid over time. I think we
need to continue to look at ways to improve that process,
and perhaps the personnel piece is a piece of it.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Hey, Greg, let me get back to this twelve teams
thing and such a valid point that you make. Are
you concerned that, Okay, we had sixteen, and I know
that money and revenue and all that's important, there's no doubt,
but are.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We in danger?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I understand you can knock down three point shots in basketball,
we have sixty four teams and a twelve will be
to five. But is it realistic whether we get to
sixteen or more. Where's the breaking point where we say
there's no way the twenty fifth team in the country
can just on attrition alone depth wise, can handle four
or five games and against playing week after week. Where's
(10:12):
the cutoff of where it's no good?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah? I think that's a real question. And in fact,
if you go back to the expansion to twelve, there
were a lot of articles written about the number of
games that would come with the twelve team playoff. There
were none of those articles written during the playoff last year,
you had right here, no complaints. What you heard was
like Sark and I talked at the Cotton Bowl about
how they had adjusted preparation and practices dating back into
(10:37):
November of that year. So people are going to adjust.
The players told us it's not about the games, it's
about the totality of the year and the impacts through
the year. And so what you've watched coaches naturally adjust.
The balance is the opportunity to play for a national
championship versus what's required to do that. And I think
(10:57):
the issues of depth, particularly when we're going through some
of these ross changes, need to be considered. Obviously, the
preparation and the adjustment, the gaps between games and the
recovery time is a piece of it. I'll say one
of the challenges with going to sixteen is like where
do you actually place the games on the calendar? That
is a challenge given you know, Army Navy, given the
(11:19):
NFL playing on Saturday, we already have some conflicts there.
And then how do you build enough rest and recovery
and try to finish, you know, by kind of the
mid January date where we currently occupy there's a lot
to the potential expansion. I tend to think the twelve
format was really well informed. I'm interested and alternative is
(11:39):
beyond that, but the twelfth twelve team thing worked really
well last year.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Absolutely, SEC Commissioner, Greg, thank you joining us here at
SEC Media Days.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Really appreciate your time and really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And we'll catch up with you again here very soon.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Great, great stuff, Thank you, buddy, appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yep, take care awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
All Right, so we'll continue on here on the Shawn
Salisbury Show again. Dan Matthews here in Atlanta, Shawn back
in Houston as we continue here Sports Talk seven ninety
It is a Sean Salisbury show here on a Western Wednesday.
Dan Matthews live here in Atlanta at SEC Media Days,
and a pleasure right now to be joined by the
Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
He is Greg SANKI.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Greg got me here in Atlanta, Sean Salisbury back in
Houston spending a few minutes with you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I gotta ask you don't really seem like a reactionary person.
And this is a job that has so many just
unknown variables out there that you seem to kind of
see these things coming, Like what do you think kind
of goes into that for you?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Really good people around me. I probably have also learned
from the times I've reacted quickly that you need to
be more thoughtful in those moments and you know, there's
just a lot going on. And if it was an
attempt in I think behind the scenes, I do have
to react on a regular basis, But if it was
(00:56):
an attempt to just constantly be in reactionary moment, which
unfortunately we are, you don't make a lot of progress.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
If that's your strategy, Greg, great to have you on.
If you're overall got something that you want change in
college football or the number one priority overall for the
whole process from high school to college. Just looking at
the landscape, what would it.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Be, So I have to pick one?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, the most important to you?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh wow. You know. The challenge we have is the
combination of the transfer of freedom and nil all at
the same time, which I think creates a lot of
confusion about values. But I think just decoupling those two
from each other you don't really make a lot of progress.
(01:45):
If it was me, i'd provide some clarity, and.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Then I have another question for him.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
A system that is educationally sound, so moving around every
semester every year doesn't lead you down the path to graduation.
I think that would be Oh okay. I got helpful
in the areas of things that we could control. Probably
gonna get sued if you have more restricted policies. That's
why I go back and attach these two. You know,
sound academic policy helping young people make progress. There's nothing
(02:14):
wrong with that sort of oversight. That doesn't mean we
go into lockdown mode. It just means you need a
more systematic way of managing the issues.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Hey, Greg, I can't think of anybody better to ask
this question. It may be unfair, but I'm gonna ask
it anyway because you're always transparent. Is with Nick Saban,
I think the best college coach of all time, and
you know the talk of him coming back, but what
you know of him did the nil and the fact
that it's not regulate how it got we hit that
slippery slope of getting out of hand because Nick's got
(02:45):
some old school in him. Did that force him to
do this to get back in TV? Do you think
that's the number one reason he walked away? Because it
sure seems like he's got a lot of football left
in him.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I asked him that directly. So I think his retirement
was announced not like a Wednesday or Thursday, and I
waited a couple of days and called him just to
check in, and we've talked repeatedly throughout you know, I
think there are a lot of factors. You put that
on the factor list. I don't think that was necessarily
a tipping point for him. Certainly a piece of his
decision making, but he's not the type of person that
(03:18):
takes one issue and says well I'm done, or I
mean because of that, it's a broader look. Now, I
will say on the transparent side. It's been really enjoyable
to visit with him and just watch him where he's
not focused on game preparation or recruiting, think about the game,
and be a bit of a sounding board on some
(03:39):
of the big picture issues we have taking place in
college sports.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well, the dude doesn't get gray hair, Greg, I mean,
for whatever reason, he looks like he's having a lot
of fun on college game day.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
So it's pretty cool to see. Yeah, you know, I
went up to the Texas game at Michigan and it
was the first time I'd seen him in that setting
with Kirk and Reese and and and Pat, and I
asked him. I called him the next week about how
it's going. And then I kind of asked the other
guys around the rest of the season about, you know,
(04:09):
their Friday interactions, their dinners, and I've never been to
one of their Friday dinners. I need to figure out
the place football among that group, which I think would
be fascinating, yes, to be a part of again.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankie joining us here in Atlanta at
SEC media Days, and when it comes to the college
football Playoff, I mean, obviously the SEC has a position
on it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The Big ten has a position on it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You know Brett Yormark last week talking about it from
the Big twelve perspective. How important is it to obviously,
obviously you know what you want is best for the SEC,
but then how much collaboration is needed in order to
get to something that can be agreeable for everyone.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It is a collaborative effort, and they asked about what's
best for the SEC. So the blank, the bottom line
is we never would have gone to twelve. If our
motivation was just what's best for the SEC, we would
have stayed at four. I said that plainly. And if
you think about last year, had we been at four,
you would have had what Oregon and Penn State in
(05:13):
Georgia and Texas that would have been the four. Yes,
So the good that we did for college football is
that Ohio State got into the playoff, that Clemson, that SMU,
that Arizona State had any access, that Boise State had
any access. So the notion that this is all driven
out of self interest is not actually consistent with the evidence.
(05:36):
Now moving forward, I think there's some misunderstanding like this
five whatever notion, there's no doubling down the five conference
champion model is embedded in whatever structure. So whether we
have twelve or fourteen or sixteen, there are five allocated
spots for conference champions. That's not about somebody's opinion. Now,
(05:58):
the question is should we row beyond twelve? Our conference
observed after a lot of talk at our spring meetings
that growth perhaps to sixteen was a point of emphasis,
that that access was important. And I'll give you two
reasons why Alabama and Ole Miss both beat Georgia best
win of last year's season. George is a second ranked
(06:18):
team in the country. If they can play at that
level on any given Saturday, perhaps those type of teams
could make a run. And the expansion is healthy. Now,
how do you invite teams into that that playoff? No
matter what the number is, we said, rather than allocating
automatically more bids, let's look at the selection protocol. We
(06:41):
have interest in the model, and I've said this to Brett,
to Jim Phillips with the acc to Tony Pettiti, and
to all my other bowls in college. We have interest
in this automatic bid model, but we're not committed to that.
What we are interested is improving the selection process. As
thinking of that could be achieved. I think there needs
to be a sense of urgency around that, and hopefully
(07:03):
that's a complete explanation of kind of how we see
the world.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Hey, Greg, about the committee and choose and I know
they put a lot of time and effort in and
maybe this is a naive question, and you oversee the
as powerful a conference as there is in sports period
selection committee. I've always asked why. Maybe it's elementary, but
why is a current athletic We got enough people in
the world that know football and watch it. Why would
(07:28):
a current athletic director that is on a power or
power for school, Why is that person on the committee
you can't help with human nature to lean towards your conference.
Or why is there a person that's an athletic director,
current standing athletic director on that committee? Why do we
do that?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I'm going to give you a couple perspectives. So let's start.
Like the fundamental statement it's come up this week is, Hey,
the NFL doesn't use it committee and select this playoff teams. Okay,
neither does the NBA nor Major League Baseball in the
Major League Soccer know the NHL, But in college the
existence of a selection committee because of the breadth of
programs has involved selection committees in basketball, baseball, whatever. But
(08:12):
for the period of time when the BCS used computer rankings,
and what was the reaction that, well, we need humans involved.
Now that the second point, So the tradition of selection
committees exists in college sports. That's not unique. Now the
question of who should populate the selection committees is an
interesting one the view, and this goes back to twenty fourteen,
(08:33):
and it's a fair question to continue to ask is
who should populate that? And it was felt at that
time and so this predates my role as commissioner. That
involving athletics directors who are in the sport, who are
part of the day to day operations of college football
was healthy, works in other sports, works in basketball, and
(08:54):
adding beyond what other selection committees do those from the outside,
so former coaches, former players, members of the media, people
with significant statures. So think about former Secretary of State
Condolleza Rice with the original committee, that that balance was
appropriate with the kind of refusal so that where there
(09:15):
are conflicts of interest, you can't represent your own school,
or if you were the athletic director and another school,
you might be out of that conversation as well. It's
a fair question to ask. I think the credibility of
the people has been solid over time. I think we
need to continue to look at ways to improve that process,
and perhaps the personnel piece is a piece of it.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Hey, Greg, let me get back to this twelve teams
thing and such a valid point that you make. Are
you concerned that, Okay, we had sixteen, and I know
that money and revenue and all that's important, there's no doubt,
but are.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We in danger?
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I understand you can knock down three point shots in basketball,
we have sixty four teams and a twelve will be
to five. But is it realistic whether we get to
sixteen or more. Where's the breaking point where we say
there's no way the twenty fifth team in the country
can just on attrition alone depth wise, can handle four
or five games and against playing week after week. Where's
(10:12):
the cutoff of where it's no good?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah? I think that's a real question. And in fact,
if you go back to the expansion to twelve, there
were a lot of articles written about the number of
games that would come with the twelve team playoff. There
were none of those articles written during the playoff last year,
you had right here, no complaints. What you heard was
like Sark and I talked at the Cotton Bowl about
how they had adjusted preparation and practices dating back into
(10:37):
November of that year. So people are going to adjust.
The players told us it's not about the games, it's
about the totality of the year and the impacts through
the year. And so what you've watched coaches naturally adjust.
The balance is the opportunity to play for a national
championship versus what's required to do that. And I think
(10:57):
the issues of depth, particularly when we're going through some
of these ross changes, need to be considered. Obviously, the
preparation and the adjustment, the gaps between games and the
recovery time is a piece of it. I'll say one
of the challenges with going to sixteen is like where
do you actually place the games on the calendar? That
is a challenge given you know, Army Navy, given the
(11:19):
NFL playing on Saturday, we already have some conflicts there.
And then how do you build enough rest and recovery
and try to finish, you know, by kind of the
mid January date where we currently occupy there's a lot
to the potential expansion. I tend to think the twelve
format was really well informed. I'm interested and alternative is
(11:39):
beyond that, but the twelfth twelve team thing worked really
well last year.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Absolutely, SEC Commissioner, Greg, thank you joining us here at
SEC Media Days.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Really appreciate your time and really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And we'll catch up with you again here very soon.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Great, great stuff, Thank you, buddy, appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yep, take care awesome, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
All Right, so we'll continue on here on the Shawn
Salisbury Show again. Dan Matthews here in Atlanta, Shawn back
in Houston as we continue here Sports Talk seven ninety
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