Beach trips are for fun and sun. Destin is a great place for both, but this week it will also be the setting for what could become monumental changes for the Southeastern Conference and SEC football.
Don’t automatically take the preceding sentence as hyperbole. A credible source, Matt Hayes, writing for Saturday Down South, provided some insider information on Monday.
Before the inside info, a quick review is needed. About a week ago, discussing the upcoming SEC spring meeting, Greg Sankey said,
"We need to engage in blue-sky thinking, which is you detach from reality. What are the full range of possibilities?… unknowns are on our mind as we think about decision making down the road. This is a fully dynamic environment. … It’s hard to understand where things will end up if you wait for this to play out."
It could be the ‘blue-sky thinking’ phase is already complete. The number of ‘full range of possibilities’ may have been narrowed down considerably.
Matt Hayes did not name his sources. He said one was an SEC Athletic Director and the other was an ‘industry source.’
According to Hayes, the SEC AD said,
"We’ve moved way past the ‘everything is on the table’ point. There will be hard, real discussions."
The industry source provided a tasty teaser.
"We’re a lot closer than you think to monumental change. And I don’t use that word lightly."
Would scrapping divisions and a new 3-6, pod-structured, 9-game SEC schedule qualify as monumental change? For some, it might.
There are other potential changes that would be more monumental. The norm for SEC spring meetings is attendance by athletic directors along with football and basketball coaches. This time, all 14 SEC presidents and chancellors will also attend.
Too much outside attention will be given to whether another dustup occurs between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher. Probable discouragement from Sankey might resemble a gag order and prevent further airing of the pair’s apparently irreconcilable differences.
With much serious work to be done, no time can be wasted on squabbles among coaches.
SEC Football Work Items
- Future 16-team structure and game scheduling format
- Possible proposed NIL and Transfer Portal modifications
- Next CFB Playoff action, including a possible SEC post-season Playoff
The first item can become contentious, particularly in maintaining or abandoning some existing, annual team rivalries. No matter how much disagreement, all 16 teams will eventually agree.
Legally, without new legislation or an anti-trust exemption, there is not much the SEC can do about NIL and transfer excesses.
What the SEC can do is make its Playoff intentions clear. Either a 12-team, no Power Five automatic qualifier format will happen or the SEC will stage its own Playoff.
Those two Playoff plans are in the best interest of the SEC. No other previously discussed plan is, and Greg Sankey, having tried once to do the best for CFB, must do what is best for the SEC.
Bama Hammer will follow the spring meeting carefully as it unfolds this week in Destin. Check back frequently for updates.