Berry TramelThe Oklahoman
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Greg Sankey’s relationship with the Pac-12 Conference has been complicated.
The Southeastern Conference commissioner helped construct the soon-to-be-implemented 12-team College Football Playoff and cited the need for the sport to thrive out West, home of the Pac-12.
Then Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff, with help from frenemy Kevin Warren, his Big Ten counterpart, tried to torpedo the new format as some kind of childish protest against OU and Texas joining the SEC.
And now Sankey says he feels empathy for what’s left of a tattered Pac, with only four schools remaining after this season, and with Sankey’s stated desire of propping up West Coast playoff access now moot.
All of which means the 12-team format, set to launch in 2024, is likely to undergo change, due to the likely demise of the Pac-12.
“We do have changed circ*mstances,” Sankey said Tuesday on ESPN’s Paul Finebaum Show. “Right now, we still have 10 FBS (major-college) conferences, but there’s obviously a great question about whether that will remain.
“And yeah, that can create the thought in my mind and in others about some level of adjustment being made.”
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OU athletic director Joe Castiglione agreed.
“It seems like adjustments can and will be made,” Castiglione said. “I’m sure there are other items that will also be considered.”
The 12-team model called for a field of the six highest-rated (by the selection committee) conference champions and six at-large berths. The five power conferences were virtually assured of a berth, leaving one (at least) spot for a champion from the Mountain West, American, Sun Belt, Mid-American and Conference USA leagues.
But if there is no Pac-12, the playoff could give the mid-majors the same access by reducing the conference-champ berths to five, which would raise the at-large pool to seven.
“I do think the access we’ve created through the 12-team format still seems wise, but maybe there are elements and specifics of what was decided when we had clarity around 10 conferences that might need to be adjusted, given what’s happening right now,” Sankey said.
Sankey did not express delight at the Pac-12's demise, which began with UCLA and Southern Cal last summer committing to the Big Ten, followed by Colorado announcing for the Big 12 two weeks ago, then the flurry of last weekend, when the Big Ten grabbed Washington and Oregon, while the Big 12 took Arizona State, Utah and Arizona.
But Sankey clearly remains agitated at the 2021 conspiracy by the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC to delay or destroy the expanded playoff. Only when presidents and chancellors rose up in revolt of the alliance was the 12-team format approved for 2024.
“I think looking back, that was really unfortunate and unnecessary,” Sankey said on the Finebaum Show. “There wasn’t a great deal of clarity around the why.”
Warren left the Big Ten in January to become president of the Chicago Bears.
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“We saw the world differently,” Sankey said. “I had three colleagues in a room repeatedly from 2021 forward, saying, ‘No, we’re not going to expand (the playoff).’ And trying to ask them to explain, engaging them, ‘how do we address your concerns? Tell me, what it is and how do we work through those?’
“If anything that frustrated me through that CFP experience was we never made the effort to work through some of the stopping points.”
Warren grew crossways with Big Ten decision-makers and is gone. Kliavkoff leads a Dead League Walking. Sankey won out, but not before exasperation.
Some even say the delay in the expanded playoff helped hasten the Pac-12's demise, though Sankey doesn’t buy it.
“I do though think we would have been in a healthier spot having clarity around the playoff itself,” Sankey said. “Would that have stopped (realignment) movement? That depends on media negotiations, if you believe what’s been reported as the tipping point for why. And the fact that we didn’t have full clarity for a much longer period of time I don’t think promoted stability. But I wouldn’t reduce to just that one factor.”
Raising the number of at-large berths would benefit the SEC and Big Ten most, since they are in line for the majority of those selections. But it would also help the ACC and the Big 12.
And even if the Pac-12 cobbles together a survival plan made up of previous mid-majors to join Stanford, California, Oregon State and Washington State, staying at the previous six automatic berths seems unlikely.
“We wanted college football to be strong nationally,” Sankey said of the playoff sub-committee that also included then Big 12-commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick and then-Mountain West athletic director Craig Thompson. “We’ve not seen a West-of-the Rockies participant, I believe, since 2016. So the expansion was about bringing in Western football. But now what we've seen is Western football going to other conferences.
“The net of that circ*mstances have changed. And I think it’s wise for us to take a step back and reconsider what the format might look like.”
More: Two years after being left for dead, the Big 12 surges back, plundering Colorado from Pac-12
Sankey: No SEC expansion
Sankey reiterated that the SEC has no plans to jump aboard the realignment express. But remember two things.
1. The SEC ignited the current carousel, by taking OU and Texas from the Big 12 in July 2021; and 2. Sankey keeps his mouth shut on certain matters. There were no leaks on OU and Texas until after months of discussions.
Last week, Florida State officials rattled sabres over their discontent with the ACC. But Sankey didn’t bite on the Seminoles.
“I would submit we’re in an enormously healthy place,” Sankey said of the SEC, which reaches 16 schools next summer, with the addition of the Sooners and Longhorns. “So we’re not in the middle of the current movement efforts.
“We’re going to be constantly attentive ... (but) our focus is on our growth to 16. 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.”
Sankey said some of the recent moves are “problematic” concerning geography. He said the SEC doesn’t need westward expansion to continue to build its brand.
"When I look at evaluations of avid fans, we lead, and really there’s no comparsion in what we’ve established,” Sankey said.
In contemporary times, even the eventual SEC passes for a compact conference. The greatest distance between two schools is 1,192 miles – Norman to Gainesville, Florida. Austin, Texas, to Columbia, South Carolina, is next, at 1,143 miles. In the original Big 12, the greates distances were 967 miles (Boulder, Colorado, to College Station, Texas) and 963 miles (Austin to Ames, Iowa).
Now, of course, the SEC is a virtual bus league compared to its peer conferences.
“We want to maximize our revenue, but we have this contiguous group that has anational platform,” Sankey said. “We don't need to be in four time zones to generate interest on the West Coast or really across the globe, and so that's been a hallmark.”
More: Why Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy is 'thrilled' about Colorado's Big 12 return
Sankey: No czar needed
Some say that college football needs a czar – a ruler who can bring the major conferences together and keep them better aligned.
Sankey is skeptical, and who can blame him, considering he’s the leader of the nation’s strongest conference, in success and stability, even if the SEC will lag a little behind the Big Ten in revenue?
On the Finebaum Show, Sankey related the events of three years ago this week.
On August 8, 2020, the Mid-American Conference announced it would not play football that year, due to the pandemic.
“We knew from other conversations the Big Ten and Pac-12 were not likely to play,” Sankey said.
But on August 10, the SEC released a statement in which Sankey said, “I can’t promise we’re going to play, but we’re not going to stop trying.
“That’s an example, if you takethat czar mentality, we would be ceding authority to one entity or one person. It would not have worked well in the summer of 2020.”
The Pac-12 and Big Ten eventually played abbreviated seasons. The SEC, Big 12 and ACC played 10-game seasons.
“I've yet to have a student-athlete come up to me who played during that time period and said, ‘Wow, I wish you hadn’t tried as hard as you did,’” Sankey said. “In fact, it’s just the opposite. It is ‘thank you for giving us the chance.’”
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The List: Arizona State athletic programs
Arizona State is Big 12 bound. The Sun Devils arrive next summer. Here are the 23 sports sponsored by ASU, ranked by their expected impact on the Big 12:
1. Men’s golf: ASU has won eight Pac-12 titles, though none since 2008. The Sun Devils won NCAA team titles in 1990 and 1996. They’ve made the NCAA quarterfinals each of the last three years.
2. Softball: The Sun Devils won NCAA championships in 2008 and 2011. They have made the Women’s College World Series 12 times, but just once (2018) in the last 10 years. ASU was in a Super Regional in 2022.
3. Wrestling: The Sun Devils won the 1988 NCAA championship and remain a force in the sport. ASU has placed seventh, fourth and fourth in the last three NCAAs.
4. Women’s golf: The Sun Devils won eight NCAA championships from 1990-2017 and were back in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2021.
5. Men’s swimming: ASU won the 2023 Pac-12 title and placed second in the NCAA Championships.
6. Baseball: The Sun Devils have five NCAA championships but none since 1981; five NCAA runnerup finishes but none since 1998; and 22 College World Series trips but none since 2010.
7. Men’s tennis: The Sun Devils have made 18 NCAA Tournaments. They’ve won an NCAA match in 2023, 2021 and 2019.
8. Women’s tennis: ASU has made the last 19 NCAA Tournaments, though the Sun Devils rarely have gone far.
9. Triathlon: ASU has won four national titles outside the NCAA in the emerging sport that is hoping for NCAA
10. Women’s track: The Sun Devils won the 2007 NCAA title and have won three Pac-12 titles (2006-08). But ASU has been up and down in the last decade.
11. Women’s swimming: The Sun Devils generally are competitive in the Pac-12 but haven’t been nationally relevant since a 12th-place showing in the 2012 NCAAs.
12. Football: The Sun Devils were a power in the old Western Athletic Conference, but in 45 years in the Pac-12, ASU has made just two Rose Bowls, most recently in 1996. ASU has been mostly mediocre in the 21st century.
13. Men’s basketball: The Sun Devils have made eight NCAA tournaments in the last 40 years, with seven victories and one trip to the Sweet 16 (1995).
14. Women’s soccer: The Sun Devils make the NCAA Tournament on average about once every 6-7 years; ASU won NCAA games in 2020 and 2014.
15. Women’s basketball: ASU has missed the last three NCAA Tournaments, and collapsed to 1-15 in the Pac-12 last season. But before that, ASU went 14 times in 19 seasons, with Sweet 16s in 2019, 2015 and 2005.
16. Men’s track: ASU won the 1977 NCAA championship but have been mostly middle-of-the-road in the Pac-12 the last decade.
17. Men’s ice hockey: The Sun Devils became a Division I program in 2014 and have made the NCAA Tournament once since.
18. Beach volleyball: In 10 seasons as a varsity sport, the Sun Devils have yet to make the NCAAs.
19. Women’s gymnastics: ASU generally finishes in the back half of the Pac-12.
20. Men’s cross-country: ASU never has won the Pac-12 title and generally finishes near the bottom of the conference.
21. Women’s lacrosse: In the six years the Pac-12 has sponsored the sport, ASU is 19-32 in conference play.
22. Women’s cross-country: The Sun Devils never have won the Pac-12 title and not since 2009 has ASU placed above sixth in the conference.
23. Women’s volleyball: ASU is 262-430 all-time in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils haven’t finished in the upper division since 1999.
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Mailbag: Iowa State & the AAU
My Tuesday ScissorTale item on the Association of American Universities drew a question.
Ray: “Iowa State was an AAU member from 1958 to 2022.Any idea why they are no longer a member?”
Tramel: Yes, it sounds like Iowa State withdrew because the AAU was increasingly favoring schools with medical schools. ISU doesn't have one.
It appears it was only a matter of time before the Cyclones were kicked out.
The AAU relies heavily on research grant money, and medical schools get a huge boost of grant money, so schools without them are scrambling to get into the AAU or stay in. Nebraska was dropped from the AAU a few years ago.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
