Greg Sankey calls out 'naysayers' after SEC's College World Series, NCAA Tournament showings

When most fans think about the SEC and sports, their minds jump to football. That’s no surprise, but the conference won national championships across nine different sports, including softball, baseball, and men’s basketball, which is something that Commissioner Greg Sankey is very proud of.

At SEC Media Days, Sankey appeared on SEC This Morning. There, he praised the state of sports outside of football, while also calling out the critics and naysayers of the SEC following the College World Series and the NCAA Tournament.

“Outstanding,” Sankey said. “I probably would have said that last year as well. But you take basketball. We felt we were going to be good. Just use that term. We thought we were going to have success. I couldn’t have predicted the level of success.”

The SEC had 14 teams make the NCAA Tournament, with Florida eventually winning it all. However, along the way, the conference faced criticism for the number of early-round losses it suffered. In baseball, the SEC faced a similar situation. The conference got more teams in than anyone else, with 13 teams making the Field of 64. Then, there was a poor early showing, but an SEC school, LSU, eventually won it all.

“It’s interesting, we had the 14 teams picked. You’re going to have more losses in the NCAA Tournament by virtue of having 14 teams in than anyone else. You’re going to set a record for the number of losses,” Sankey said. “Because nobody’s had 14, and the storyline became about that. It happened in baseball. In baseball, probably in June, we underperformed a bit in Regionals and Super Regionals from what we would have expected. Ironically, as the naysayers were building through baseball, we still had more teams in Omaha than any other conference, and then won the national championship. So, even when we’re not as good as people expect, we’re still really good. Those were cool moments.”

At the same time, Sankey is also proud of the success that the SEC has had in smaller sports, often referred to as Olympic sports. There, the conference again found success, including in sports where it traditionally may not be a power.

“To be at a rowing championship, just a really small thing. The way our staff prepared for that with four women’s rowing teams. To be on the water for the last eights, I don’t know if I used the right nomenclature. To see the effort, a six-minute effort in the championship race, that’s pretty cool. It was well done, and that was a group that was happy to have the opportunity,” Sankey said.

“We have a volleyball championship… I walked into it my first year with the coaches like, ‘Hey, you’ve got this gap where you could create some attention and momentum for your sport.’ I never thought everybody would embrace it. I went back into the coaches’ meetings like two or three times, like I think it’s time we put it on TV. The coaches didn’t agree. I’m not gonna fight this fight for you. Really, this is now a credit to our coaches. They’ve set some standards and expectations about what kind of event we’d have, and we’re gonna have it.”

If there is a point of frustration for Sankey and the SEC, though, it’s that they’ve failed to win a national championship in football for two straight seasons. In 2025, there are several schools from the SEC ready to compete for a championship. It’s just a matter of navigating the season.