Life is about to change for Greg Sankey. The man that doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry, just a few thousand twitter followers, and walked around Bridgestone arena during the SEC basketball tournament anonymously, has been selected to replace Mike Slive as commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.
Slive is one of the most powerful people in college sports. He is the driving force behind the SEC’s emergence as the top conference amongst college athletics. He is almost universally recognized as a sports administration savant; possessing an incredibly effective combination of vision, personality, and work ethic. Slive’s list of accomplishments and impact on the college game are part-in-parcel with the major, fundamental shifts over college athletics of the past decade. Slive is more than the commissioner of the SEC, he – along with ESPN president John Skipper – is the architect of the current college sports landscape.
How fitting is it that his replacement is the humble, gregarious and relatively unknown Greg Sankey?
What the presidents have done in selecting Greg Sankey as the next SEC commissioner is maintain the status quo, and that’s no surprise. Sankey has all the bona fidas required for the job. He has been with the league for 13 years, served as commissioner of the Southland Conference for seven years, and has worked closely with the NCAA bureaucracy for many years.
Sankey has served as Slive’s chief deputy for two years. He has been instrumental in Slive’s efforts to clean up the conference with the NCAA governance, enforcement and compliance committee and with the league’s academic partnership initiatives. In a league riddled with sanctions ten years ago, you cannot survive as a coach or administrator with dark clouds today. Just ask Tennessee, Arkansas, or Auburn. Fans and observers can expect continued emphasis in these areas from Sankey.
Sankey, as Chief Operating Officer for the league, was also (obviously) integrally involved in the planning, development, launch, and operation of the SEC Network. This relationship with between the conference and ESPN and the television money that accompanies it is the lifeblood for future success for the league’s member institutions.
Most importantly, the new commissioner understands the presidents, athletic directors and coaches of the league’s member institutions. He has spent the past decade working with them and making everyone happier (and richer) along the way. He understands the league, the personalities, and the levers of power needed to keep the train moving and pointed in the right direction.
The praise coming from those around the league, including media, coaches and ADs, and the presidents – notorious to please – is at once expected (of course they are going to be happy with their own decision) but also more effusive than normal for a hiring like this. The search committee considered naming Sankey as commissioner-elect without interviewing anyone else but conducted a due diligence search anyways.
But the best part about the hire is this. For a “safe bet” hire, as many will call this, Sankey has a tremendous up-side. Of course, without a body of work you cannot possible say that any hire would be an upgrade from Slive, but you do have to consider some of the possibilities.
At 50, Sankey is relatively young for a commissioner of a Power 5 conference. With success, he can continue to lead the league for at least another 15 years. That stability and the aforementioned boisterous support of his constituency is key when the inevitable battle with the NCAA arrives. Sankey will be in a position of power far stronger than any NCAA president can hope to be in when the time arrives.
Sankey also seems to have a personality that lends itself to branding. Commissioners have almost always been behind-the-scenes guys. One of the things that sets the SEC is how it has branded itself over the past two decades. Many college fans absolutely detest how SEC fans will (for the most part, there are exceptions) cheer for other SEC teams in out-of-conference events. The next logical evolution is for the SEC to have a very visible face to the organization. And Greg Sankey fits that role quite well. He’s relatable – personable, affable, smiles and laughs. He’s not establishment – he’s a former golf coach in a football/basketball/baseball/softball conference. He’s a native New Yorker in the south. He’s a marathon-running CrossFitter in a room of university presidents and college administrators. He’s on twitter, the only conference commissioner with an active social media presence.
At least that’s the outward face we will see. The presidents have already told us what they see inside the meeting room. In a best case scenario the SEC is getting Mike Slive and Archie Manning all rolled into one. In today’s landscape having the right ideas or the best ideas aren’t enough. You have to be able to sell those ideas and communicate those ideas. That’s why Greg Sankey was the right hire.
Yes, life is about to change for the humble, seemingly unassuming Sankey. While life is about to change for Greg Sankey, the presidents and member institutions of the SEC are hoping that the more things change, the more they will stay the same.
