Dusty Dvoracek labels Greg Sankey 'the best leader in all of college athletics'

Dusty Dvoracek approves of Oklahoma‘s move to the SEC. On Monday, the former Oklahoma defensive lineman and current ESPN analyst praised SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.

“I do think that the SEC has the best leader in all of college athletics in Greg Sankey,” Dvoracek said. “He’s playing chess while it seems like a lot of people are playing checkers.”

On July 1, Oklahoma and Texas officially joined the SEC. The conference first accepted the two schools in 2021. However, it took three years for the move to become complete. In the fall, the Sooners and Longhorns will kick off their respective tenures in the powerhouse conference.

The two storied universities bring no shortage of athletic success with them to the SEC. The Sooners and Longhorns have combined for 110 national championships across all collegiate sports. Texas made an appearance in the College Football Playoff this past season while Oklahoma softball has won four straight national titles. 

The football tradition of both programs rings strong with 11 national championships and nine Heisman winners between them. Sankey couldn’t be happier to have the two schools join the conference.

Greg Sankey believes Oklahoma meets the SEC standard

“It goes back to an athletic directors’ conversation,” Sankey said. “Scott Stricklin at Florida, we were talking generally about potential new members years ago and he said, ‘you need to apply the It Just Means More test.’

“So, on a campus and in an athletic department an university, does what they do as an athletic program meet that kind of expectation that we have? Obviously (Oklahoma and Texas) do.”

Sankey isn’t the only one excited about the move. During an appearance on the SEC Network, Sankey recounted how fans have reacted to the additions of Oklahoma and Texas.

“It’s interesting to travel the country and I hear from fans of the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma about their excitement,” Sankey said. “I was on an airplane in Syracuse, New York, two weeks ago with a Gator fan and a Georgia fan saying that they’re excited about the future because they both played Texas this year. So I think that’s the reflection of meeting that excitement test.”

Sankey became the eighth commissioner of the SEC on June 1, 2015. In less than a decade, Sankey has guided the conference through the COVID pandemic, the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal and, most recently, conference realignment.