For the first time in three years, the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings are back live and in person starting Tuesday at the Sandestin Beach Hilton in Destin, Florida.
Get your popcorn ready.
There’s going to be plenty to discuss. Future conference schedules, the transfer portal and the ongoing saga regarding NIL (name, image, and likeness), those are expected to be among the major talking points for the 14 leagues schools when meetings get underway.
This will also mark the first time Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher will have seen each other face to face since their much-publicized war of words two weeks ago.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey would no doubt prefer not to have to play referee and instead paint a unified front for the conference.
Presidents and chancellors, head football coaches and head basketball coaches (men and women), along with other athletic department officials from all 14 universities will be attending the event. It will mark the first time since 2019 that the meetings will be in person since Covid wiped out the schedule 2020 event with last year’s event held on a video conference calls.
“I think everything is being discussed,” Georgia president Jere Morehead said Thursday during Georgia’s annual Athletic Association Board of Directors meeting at Lake Oconee.
“We’re going to have a joint presidents-AD meeting during the Destin meeting. But I’m not at a point of predicting what outcomes will occur at this stage,” he said. “The athletic directors have been in much more discussion about this, so part of this is for the presidents to have a discussion with the athletic directors to see where they are.”
Unlike SEC Media Days, the conference limits which media outlets can attend the spring meetings. UGASports will be in attendance.
The best way to implement a new conference scheduling model should be an interesting conversation.
Last week, Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellinger reported that the SEC is down to two models. The smaller of the two would be an eight-game format which would include one permanent opponent and a rotation of seven others.
The second would be a larger nine-game format with three permanent opponents with a rotation of six others.
Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks was jokingly asked how many different opinions he foresaw 16 conference teams having on the way a new schedule should be done.
“Sixteen. But I’ll say this, especially with me being one of the younger SEC ADs in the room, it’s a great group,” Brooks said. “I think the strength of the SEC is that we put the conference first when we make decisions like this. So, there’s never going to be any schedule scenario where everybody’s happy, but everybody understands that we have to do what’s best for the conference.”
As the conference works through the different options, Brooks expects those conversations to be spirited. However, he does believe a consensus will ultimately be reached.
“I’ve been very impressed with everyone understanding what’s best for the conference and putting that first when making decisions, and I think one of the components that’s been discussed - and people know here - is the variability in schedules and getting teams to play each other that haven’t played each other much,” Brooks said. “I know it’s been well documented that our fans have not been to College Stadion yet. Elements like that come up in discussion, and ADs want to do what’s best for the conference, what’s best for providing a great experience for our student athletes, for our fans and what’s best again for the conference.”
Brooks acknowledged the impending change could affect two of Georgia’s long-standing rivals, Auburn, and Florida.
Although Georgia would like to keep its annual rivalries with the Tigers and the Gators, there’s a chance one or both could be affected in future years.
That’s the main reasons negotiations with Jacksonville as it pertains to the annual Georgia-Florida game beyond the 2023 season have currently been tabled.
"Those things are important but, again, we're 1/16th, right?” Brooks said. “So, we can push for what's important to us but, again, we're one of 16 teams that votes and we're very respectful of the conference and what direction we go.”
Like Brooks, Morehead also believes a consensus will be reached, although he’s not sure exactly when that will take place.
“I think that's where the commissioner comes in. I think we have by far the greatest commissioner in all of college athletics and I think he will work through all of those kinds of issues, because every school has issues like Auburn and Florida and has what's on their list,” Morehead said. “I think in the end we'll get to a good outcome, but I don't know whether it will be resolved next week or if it will take longer. But ultimately Commissioner will get us to a 16-zero vote, I feel confident.”
