Greg Sankey explains how he views conference expansion talk

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talked about how he viewed conference expansion amid college football being a year out from a major move.

Oklahoma and Texas are set to join the SEC next season while USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten next fall. But Sankey isn’t worried about the rest of the nation, just his conference.

As he usually says, it’s a year ‘round job between all of the sports.

“We have to focus on what we’re doing,” Sankey said on Always College Football. “So that’s our current 14 (teams) … We need to support that effort with excellence in our spring meetings next week, the activity through the summer, leading into the fall of football, volleyball, soccer, cross country, you repeat it all again. (that) leaves me with less hair and more gray where it doesn’t exist. That has to be the focus.”

Sankey also discussed how much focus is on the two new schools coming in via expansion.

“You also have the responsibility to effectively onboard two members in Oklahoma and Texas,” Sankey said. “It’s not just like, you know, you grab a pencil a sheet of paper and you solve all the problems there. Whether it’s scheduling, whether it’s where we meet when we meet, what we need. All of those things change every time you expand and this is the SEC’s third expansion … the Arkansas and South Carolina (one) for over 30 years now. And also Missouri (has been here) for over a decade and soon to be Oklahoma, Texas. Each of those is different and takes a lot of work. 

“And so I watch and I’m attentive to what others are saying but we have a responsibility to lead with excellence here. And if we have to adjust, you need to adjust. We want to be thoughtful about that just as we’ve been over our history.”

Paul Finebaum details what could be next for Big Ten in expansion

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is a noted SEC commentator, but he looked at the Big Ten and what that conference could do next. Sankey might want to pay attention.

“Well, I think often it’s really more from an availability standpoint,” explained Finebaum, via McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning. “You know, why were they talking last summer to Washington and Oregon, because they were disgruntled, and I also think Washington and Oregon help the Big Ten a little bit from a western standpoint. Suddenly you have four schools on the west coast, as opposed to only two. It makes scheduling a little bit easier. I think it helps you, you encompass that part of the country.

“Where — I know there’s been some conversation if the ACC schools were available, North Carolina might be on the Big Ten list as well, I understand that. It’s a top rated academic institution. It brings a new part of the country, a new part of the country into play. But I would go west, from a Big Ten standpoint.”