Inside Texas at SEC Media Days - Day 1: Commissioner Greg Sankey, LSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
Inside Texas is on location in Dallas, Texas at Southeastern Conference Media Days ahead of the Texas Longhorns’ first year in the SEC. The Longhorns take the stage Wednesday, but on Monday SEC commissioner Greg Sankey kicks things off with his state of the conference address.
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Festivities get going at 9:05 a.m. Central. Inside Texas will have updates here as Sankey, LSU head coach Brian Kelly, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, and Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea take the stage. The event can be seen on the SEC Network.
Bevo, Augie Garrido, Kevin Durant, Jody Conradt, Darrell Royal, and Cat Osterman are all prominently featured in a new commercial put together by the SEC.
Commissioner Greg Sankey – 9:05 a.m.
Sankey shouts out all the SEC athletes who are starring in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex including Dak Prescott, Wyatt Langford, and countless others on the Dallas Mavericks, Wings, Cowboys, and Texas Rangers.
Greg Sankey: “It’s great to be back in Texas representing the 16 universities of the Southeastern Conference.”
Greg Sankey: “16 is our today, and 16 is our tomorrow.”
Greg Sankey says the SEC will work with Apple to introduce iPads for sideline use “to elevate the performance of our student-athletes.”
Greg Sankey: “We said in that video that was used to celebrate the additions of Oklahoma and Texas as new members just a few weeks ago, but it’s time to update. It’s time to update your expectations for what college athletics can be.”
Greg Sankey: “The reality is, there is no easy button we can push to resolve the issue we face and there is no magic pill.”
Greg Sankey on things like the House case and other changes to the NCAA: “We are literally working to make what would normally be a decade’s worth of change in a matter of months.”
Greg Sankey: “And yes, we’re going to seek to capitalize on new revenue opportunities that support our athletics programs and our student-athlete participants… but that responsibilities lies with us to bring people into the solution and not cede authority to external actors.”
Greg Sankey: “We want the College Football Playoff. America wants the Final Four. We desire a College World Series or College Cup. And to do so, we need national standards.”
Greg Sankey: “Congress is a place that can set national standards and address the issues our student-athletes have raised. We’re not waiting for change to land in our laps. We have a responsibility to engage with our congressional leaders. Our leaders are elected to lead and I appreciate those conversations.”
Sankey on the SEC tiebreaker, which has not yet been publicly announced: “It is a lengthy plan consolidated around eight principles.” — Says there’s another video call among athletic directors in the next two weeks. Adds: “We can finalize that anytime between now and the start of the season.”
Greg Sankey on if he’s following ACC litigation with FSU and Clemson: “As I said, we’re focused on our 16. As I’ve said at media days, I’m not a recruiter. My job is to meet a standard of excellence we have for ourselves on a daily basis. That attracts interest. It’s done that with the two universities that we’ve added this year. They’re not the only phone calls I’ve ever had, but I’m not involved in recruiting.”
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Greg Sankey on the notion of ‘Texas running things’: Both (Texas and Oklahoma) are now part of the conference with peer athletic programs and peer universities. They’ll fit in and fit together with our 16.”
Greg Sankey: “There’s one place on the globe this fall where there’ll be an F1 race and a college football game at the highest level, and that’s in Austin, Texas. That’s going to be an incredibly high-demand ticket.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly: “I want to welcome Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC, making this, in my opinion, the most competitive college football conference in the country. Deep and competitive from top to bottom.”
Brian Kelly on how to have success in year one: “So again, complementary football, offense and defense. I know that sounds like coach speak, but the numbers prove it out. You can’t have the No. 1 offense in the country and not play the kind of defense necessary to get you to the next level.”
Brian Kelly on Bo Davis: ” The sales pitch was certainly his opportunity to rebuild the pride and tradition of LSU’s defensive line. There is a great and rich tradition of LSU football, and I think that that had something to do with it. He wanted to be the architect of bringing that back. His ability to motivate, his ability to teach technique, he’s demanding, never demeaning. He has an incredible experience with success. He’s won national championships within the SEC, so players immediately identify with his success because it’s real. That carries onto the recruiting trail. Somebody that has done it, been there. I think we’re seeing that come to fruition early on in his tenure here at LSU.”
Kelly on Texas: “I only watched them against Alabama because that was really the only game that from a recruiting — not recruiting — from an analysis standpoint that we had an opponent that I needed to watch them. In watching that game they had both offense and defense, the capabilities of competing for a championship. Now, each year brings players coming and going. I don’t know what their losses were. Haven’t researched their roster, but certainly if they lost some players, I know they lost some big players on the defensive line. I think it’s always about how you replace and so if you recruited well and you can step in, if they recruited well and they have guys to step in, Texas certainly has the ability to compete for an SEC championship.”
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer
Beamer on biggest adjustment to the SEC for schools like Oklahoma and Texas: “From being in other conferences — and I’ve coached in multiple leagues in my career — it’s the size and the depth and the athleticism you see on the line of scrimmage every single week in this conference.”
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
Lane Kiffin on Texas and the SEC: “I think they’re one of the elite rosters in America. Sark would know well what the challenge is. It’s not like he’s coming in with a team into the SEC with a coach that hasn’t been. I think he understands that. That conference was competitive, too, so he had tough games there and tough places to play on the road there. This is just different. The SEC is really challenging. Study road records and study road records at night in the SEC. Why do those percentages change? They change because there are really good players at really hard places to play with electric atmospheres that are challenging to play in.”
Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea
Clark Lea on Steve Sarkisian: “We competed here in Dallas in the Rose Bowl. It was the pandemic year, I was at Notre Dame at the time, and he was running the offense at Alabama. It was one of the most challenging offenses I’ve ever had to plan for. I have a ton of respect for him and the program he’s building. It’s taken time for him and he’s taken time in the foundation.”
