Greg Sankey says the SEC is 'the envy of everyone in college football'

As the Big 12 and Big Ten both added teams through conference realignment this past week, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was content to stand by and watch it all unfold. That’s because after already bringing on Oklahoma and Texas to get to 16 teams, Sankey is extremely happy with where the league stands.

Joining The Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday, the commissioner boasted that the SEC is “the envy of everyone in college football.” He added that the conference is not actively looking to expand further at the moment as it prepares to welcome the Sooners and Longhorns in 2024.

“I would submit we’re in an enormously healthy place,” Sankey said. “We’re not in the middle of the current movement efforts. As I was kind of linking in via zoom, conversations about yet another conference and our autonomy grouping looking here and there for members. We’re gonna be constantly attentive.

“I’ll go back to what seems like a year ago now, just a few weeks until media days in Nashville. I talked about our focus is on our growth to 16. When you look at the 16 universities that will soon all be affiliated officially with the Southeastern Conference when we add Oklahoma and Texas, I think that’s the envy of everyone in college football from a strength, from a success, from a support standpoint.”

To Sankey’s point, the SEC will feature some of the most prestigious programs in college football going forward. Since the inception of the College Football Playoff in 2014, it is the only conference that has gotten at least one team in the field of four every season. A member from the SEC has also won six of the nine CFP Championships, including each of the past four.

But while the SEC doesn’t intend to add any more teams through realignment at the moment, Sankey said it is still doing its best to stay on top of the current landscape. He offered a detailed summary of the various ways it has kept presidents and athletic directors apprised of recent developments.

“We have a responsibility to look from an interest standpoint at what’s happening around us,” he said. “What we did last week behind the scenes is different types of daily communication with our campuses to say, ‘here’s what we understand is taking place.’ At the end of the week, we concluded with a video conference of our presidents and chancellors. For me today speaking on their behalf, really strong alignment with that group. Very clear that there’s not something out there that we should be reaching for or engaging in on our own level of recruitment.

“We began yesterday morning with our athletics directors and over the weekend we had new elements of that update. But the focus is on the Southeastern Conference. How we build upon our strength. How we prepare for the year that’s ahead. We’re gonna be starting soccer here just in a matter of days and football in a matter of weeks, then look to our future as we go to 16. “

All that in mind, the SEC is position to continue to succeed heading into the future. As college football continues to change, Sankey will look to stay ahead of the curve as a leader.