Greg Sankey Weighs In on Lane Kiffin’s Mid-Playoff Exit: ‘We Ought to Figure Out How to Adjust’
OXFORD, Miss. — As Ole Miss continues to navigate the transition from Lane Kiffin, now at LSU, to the Rebels’ new head coach, Pete Golding, one influential voice had remained noticeably quiet — until Thursday. During his 30-minute time at the podium today for the SEC Championship Game press conference, commissioner Greg Sankey was finally asked the question the entire league had been wanting answered:
What does the commissioner think about a coach bolting from a playoff-bound SEC team to take another SEC job before the season is even finished?
Sankey didn’t address Kiffin by name, but the message was unmistakable.
Rather than dive directly into the weekend’s drama, Sankey reached back into league history to illustrate the bigger issue.
“You have to go back a number of years. We had a rule about responsibility for outreach, if you’re going to contact another coach,” Sankey said. “Our outside legal counsel suggested for anti-trust reasons that be eliminated, which it was years and years ago. I think that’s an illustration of the difficulty of legislating at a conference level.”
From there, Sankey pivoted to a problem he’s warned about for years: the accelerating coaching cycle triggered by the early signing period.
“My reaction? You asked me about a specific situation. We’ll just back up,” he said. “You can go find my quotes where I warned that the early signing period added in December would change the calendar and the timing of coach changes.
“I think now there are more factors involved. But, in fact, going back to the moment where we added the December signing period, you saw earlier terminations of coaches during the season. Then the need to rapidly hire a coach in late November and early December.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey
The commissioner made clear that while the Kiffin-Ole Miss-LSU saga is unique, it’s also part of a much larger structural problem in college football — one he believes deserves real reform.
Sankey said the sport needs to create “a healthier environment,” one that doesn’t force teams in contention to lose their head coaches during the most important stretch of their season.
“Where there are solutions, so that you’re not disrupting a team’s season, I think those should be pursued,” he said. “Unfortunately, the environment we’re in doesn’t allow and hasn’t resulted in some of the changes that even the basic change, like removing that early signing period from kind of compelling people to make change rapidly, has taken place.”
He also suggested the problems extend beyond recruiting.
“Can changes be made? Absolutely. Is it just the recruiting calendar? Likely not. Perhaps it’s a competitive calendar that can be explored. But those are multi-level issues where people have different opinions. We’ve added a transfer portal on top of that signing period that adds to the complexity.”
Lane Kiffin
Sankey closed with the clearest statement of all — a message directed at the future of the sport, and, indirectly, at what Ole Miss experienced this week.
“I think everyone would agree, and forget particular circumstances, you take a step back. Whether it’s a roster or a coaching staff, looking at something other than maybe a medical emergency, we should be able to have competition through the year with those rosters and coaching staffs intact. We ought to figure out how we can adjust on a national basis to make that happen.”
Greg Sankey
In other words: Sankey can’t stop a coach from leaving mid-season. But he does believe the sport needs to take a hard look at the rules and calendar that make situations like Kiffin’s departure possible — even inevitable.
For now, Ole Miss moves forward under newly appointed head coach Pete Golding, as Keith Carter and the Rebels work to stabilize the roster and coaching staff while awaiting Sunday’s College Football Playoff bracket reveal.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception. Email Evie at: Evie@TheRebelWalk.com
