Greg Sankey: 'The Times are a Changing'

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey kicked off the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala., Monday, leading with the them fact that "times are a changing.

Greg Sankey's first address to the SEC Media was in 2015, when he opened his press conference with a quote from legendary musician Bob Dylan, saying, "The Times They are a Changing." 

He recalled those comments Monday, six years later, as he opened yet another SEC season in Hoover, Ala., as the SEC Media Days are off and running. 

He was a bit ahead of his time six years ago, as he noted Monday. Whether it's the SEC's response to the COVID pandemic, new forms of digital media and streaming platforms, or Name, Image, and Likeness making its way to college football, indeed the times are changing. 

Sankey also noted that more than half of the conference members of the Southeastern Conference hoisted a national title in the last calendar year, and it would not have happened without a drastic effort from the conference and its member schools. They created a COVID protocol that administered more than 350,000 COVID tests in the last calendar year. 

Sankey said that 43% of the football rosters in the SEC have reached the 80% vaccination threshold and noted that the number needs to grow:

"COVID vaccines are widely available and they have proven to be effective. And when people are fully vaccinated, we all have the ability to maximize our chances of returning to a normal college football experience and a normal life."

He added, "Not everyone is going to be pleased, and we know that change takes time."

Sankey recognizes the reality in his conference, that despite a strong presence of under-represented races of the SEC in decision-making roles, there is no under-represented head coach in the conference and that needs to change. 

"We are in a transformative time, perhaps the most transformative time in the history of college sports," Sankey said. Addressing the economic change in collegiate sports, Sankey said it's important to adjust the life of collegiate athletes under the antitrust laws that made news in Washington over the last several months. 

As for the NCAA transfer portal, Sankey noted that there needs to be further information provided to the men and women that choose to enter it. 

He said, "This year in football there were 1,600 FBS scholarship recipients who have entered the NCAA transfer portal; 1,100 are still active in that portal. We have a responsibility to dig deeper. It's not enough to simply provide that flexibility; we have to do a better job of explaining those outcomes."

Name, Image, and Likeness has been a hot-button issue for a while, and without legislation passed from Congress, the NCAA and its member conferences have pleaded for legislation that will provide a uniform attack on NIL. Sankey joined that plea Monday. 

When asked about the idea of potential forfeits or rescheduling games that are "postponed" due to the impacts of COVID on rosters during the 2021 season, Sankey made it clear that games will not be rescheduled and that is where a "forfeit" could be implemented. 

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