Papers were scattered across the desk. Framed pictures sat on the floor. Boxes full of notes and ring binders were stacked along the wall. The scene was from last Monday, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey had just moved into his new office at the Birmingham, Ala., headquarters.
Sankey lamented that his first day had come to a close and he had barely left his new space to venture down the hallway.
Sankey’s first day in the commissioner’s office largely was spent unpacking. He had made the most progress on one bookshelf in particular where his collection of 50-something bobbleheads was spread across the top shelf. He’s especially fond of the five Nolan Ryan figurines and the four Racing Presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln — made popular at Washington Nationals games.
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Moving day for new SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey includes unpacking his bobblehead collection.
Photos by: MICHAEL SMITH / STAFF (2)
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Sankey, 50, doesn’t intend to rearrange the furniture or make wholesale changes, but he is known as a prolific reader who highlights key paragraphs and writes notes as he consumes book after book, so judging from the number of boxes still to be unpacked, he might need more shelves.
Two other significant changes in the transition from former Commissioner Mike Slive to Sankey: Sankey eats lunch, something Slive didn’t do; and
Sankey isn’t the daylong consumer of coffee that Slive was.
During a few free moments at the end of that first day with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Michael Smith, Sankey shared some thoughts on his new digs and what’s ahead for the SEC under new leadership.
■ How will you approach the potential for change in the SEC?
SANKEY: You don’t just change for change sake. There are a lot of things that work incredibly well in this conference and we should respect those: rivalries, locations, geography. The basketball tournament has adjusted. We’ve gone from moving year-to-year and playing in domes to a long-term deal in Nashville in an arena. It’s important to know when the right adjustment needs to be made. We just need to look at what works and magnify that.
■ Early on in his tenure, Slive assigned some very specific goals to the SEC, such as creating a five-year deadline to get schools off probation. What will you hang your hat on?
SANKEY: I absolutely will have that, but we’ve got SEC Media Days coming up [next month]. One moment of clarity I had that I’ll share is “Win every championship.” Last week was my first week officially as commissioner and we won both championships [Florida in softball, LSU in men’s golf]. So I’m meeting that goal.
■ What led to the bobblehead collection?
SANKEY: We were having a family dinner a few years ago and we were deciding what to do for the summer. So we declared it the summer of baseball and we visited 18 different ballparks at all levels. Wherever we’d go on a trip, we’d find a baseball game. When I do something, I tend to go full speed, so we got the George Washington bobblehead on July 4 at a Nationals-Cubs game and it grew from there. Then people started giving me bobbleheads and I bought more on eBay. The obsession got to be a little too much.
■ How did your love of books and your note-taking start?
SANKEY: It’s a cliché, but someone said, “Readers are leaders.” I read John Wooden books, books on leadership, I had a World War II phase and an Afghanistan-Iraq phase. I heard someone say, “Don’t read books about leadership, read books about leaders,” so I read biographies. … About 20 years ago, I decided I’d never read a book without a highlighter. It’s a personal policy, and then I started taking notes. That way, if I want to re-read a book, I don’t have to re-read the whole thing. I can just read my own notes and get the substance of what I read.
■ Given your history of running 41 marathons, is there enough time in the day for the new commissioner to keep up a rigorous workout routine?
SANKEY: I was up at 5:15 this morning for Iron Tribe (fitness classes), so I’m going to try to be there as much as I can when I’m in town.
