DESTIN, Fla. — In a scene straight out of “The Godfather,” the SEC’s highest-paid coaches got here one-by-one to pay their respects.
Steve Sarkisian. Lane Kiffin. Hugh Freeze. Kalen DeBoer.
Billy Napier, recent off speaking in regards to the Jaden Rashada lawsuit with reporters, and Kirby Sensible, Rashada’s new coach, amicably chatted along with him for greater than 10 minutes.
On the posh Hilton Sandestin Seaside Golf Resort & Spa, essentially the most fascinating factor that occurred in the course of the SEC’s annual spring conferences was watching Artistic Artists Company superagent Jimmy Sexton function out of an off-lobby restaurant that hawked $23 “connoisseur” burgers. Sexton largely retains a low profile in public, however he was unattainable to overlook this week as faculty soccer’s bold-faced names orbited round him.
For just a few hours on Tuesday, Sexton, flanked by his CAA workforce, had a near-constant receiving line of multi-millionaires desperate to catch up and decide his mind. It was like watching a maestro as Sexton defly moved from consumer to consumer, at all times seeming to time it completely and by no means leaving a coach feeling like he ditched him for certainly one of his larger purchasers.
In per week outlined by unknowns, it confirmed the one certainty was the facility Sexton holds inside faculty soccer.
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The week at certainly one of Florida’s prettiest seashores might have set a document for essentially the most “We’ll see” solutions deployed in a single place. Reporters and athletic administrators alike had the identical questions following the landmark $2.8 billion Home settlement that has been agreed upon however not finalized but.
What does it imply for Title IX? What is going to the payouts be for athletes in a brand new income sharing mannequin? What is going to it imply for athletic departments as an entire that now should discover a strategy to pay for an extra $22 million a yr?
There have been theories however no definitive solutions but.
“No consensus in something proper now,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel mentioned. “Out of your presidents to your athletic administrators to us, too. Hopefully we’ll have the ability to discover a actually good touchdown spot.”
These solutions ought to be coming within the subsequent few months because the plaintiff attorneys are anticipated to submit the lengthy kind Home settlement to Decide Claudia Wilken by July, in response to CBS Sports activities’ Dennis Dodd. With that ought to come extra readability and understanding, notably in how the plaintiffs construction the again damages funds for the impacted athletes from 2016-2020.
However till then, it was educated guesses, at greatest, on what faculty athletics’ new mannequin will appear to be shifting ahead. Thus, essentially the most noteworthy feedback landed extra on the periphery of what is taking place slightly than entering into the nitty gritty particulars of the Home settlement that may make even essentially the most diligent observer’s eyes glaze over.
There was Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin spilling the beans on the expectation the NCAA will enable sponsored subject logos, a doubtlessly profitable new income spigot for athletic departments. If we do not get a Buc-ee’s emblem inside Texas A&M’s Kyle Discipline, we have all been disadvantaged.
Stricklin additionally weighed in on the thought of Florida State becoming a member of the SEC, his assist for Napier amidst the Rashada lawsuit and a litany of different subjects in what needed to be a record-long media session with reporters that stretched upwards of an hour. For as a lot exterior noise as there may be about Stricklin’s and Napier’s long-term job safety, the Florida athletic director answered each query as calmly and picked up as one might.
We had Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte fireplace off an early sizzling tackle The Paul Finebaum Present, declaring there was nothing within the SEC just like the Pink River Rivalry sport. “It is the best factor ever,” Del Conte mentioned. He is flawed, clearly – the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl and World’s Largest Out of doors Cocktail Get together all have arguments for being higher, for starters – nevertheless it was enjoyable to see the Texas athletic director already begin to flex his muscle tissue. Del Conte has made a reputation for himself as an outspoken, aggressive AD who is ideal for Texas and can have his voice heard inside the SEC because the Longhorns formally be part of the convention in July.
New Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts was equally candid — there have to be one thing within the Texas water — when he reiterated that faculty athletics has an bills drawback, not a income drawback. It was refreshing to listen to a school administrator admit as a lot when grappling with the altering surroundings, and, sure, Daniel Libit, we’re conscious he did not invent the flip of phrase.
An more and more spicy Greg Sankey got here out when discussing his points with the NCAA and what led him to create a joint advisory group with Huge Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. For a very long time, it appeared Sankey wished to be the great man and play good with everybody, even to his personal frustration, as a way to not rock the boat. Now, a assured Sankey goes to do what he believes is greatest for his convention even when it means “typically it’s important to be a jerk.”
The teaching ranks missed the presence of former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who at all times arrived in Destin with speaking factors and a few overarching matter he wished to make use of his bully pulpit to handle. Watching new head coach Kalen DeBoer linger and make small-talk with reporters was a stark distinction from the fastidious Saban who rushed from assembly to assembly, normally with a cellphone glued to his ear alongside the best way.
Georgia head coach Kirby Sensible is the brand new main voice within the coaches room, in response to Lane Kiffin, however he hasn’t been as taken with utilizing that voice with the media. Kiffin, when he desires to, has that very same capability to handle the large image subjects in a salient method however does not have the identical gravitas but. Within the first yr with out Saban, SEC’s spring conferences felt completely different with out him.
“It is completely different, actually for myself coming all these years and seeing him,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops mentioned. “I’ve identified Coach (Saban) personally a very long time, after which working with him as a colleague, you miss him.”
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Very often, I get requested what my job’s like. I really like reporting and writing about faculty sports activities and am fortunate to take action. But when your eyes are envious on the concept of reporters spending per week on the seashore getting a tan and ingesting Piña Coladas, assume once more. The occasion, specifically, is generally windowless convention rooms and stalking the SEC’s glitzy multitude of millionaires in hallways for 9 hours a day..
Rivaling Sexton’s foyer reception was the regular stream of SEC heavy-hitters desperate to be on Paul Finebaum’s present this week. Alas, the Finebaum set was the closest many people received to the seashore.
