ATLANTA — Greg Sankey was about 13 months into his tenure as the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference in the summer of 2016 when he and his predecessor, Mike Slive, met at a Starbucks in Birmingham.
It wasn’t long before Sankey would take the podium at SEC Media Days 2016 and deliver an address, touching on the SEC’s accomplishments over the year prior and some of the issues in college sports at the time.
Slive left him with an assurance: “It’s your conference now, you don’t need to talk about me.”
Yet, the story of the Southeastern Conference is tough to tell without talking about Mike Slive, even if doing so posthumously. Sankey did just that Monday.
Sankey started SEC Media Days Monday with the typical address and short question-and-answer session after, but he did not do so without honoring Slive, who died May 16 at the age of 77.
“I’m going to violate Mike’s rule this morning and talk about him for just a moment,” Sankey said. “Whether he knew it or not, that morning after coffee, he gave me the great gift of encouragement and of confidence.”
In his 14 years as SEC commissioner, he gave Sankey the foundation he needed to take the conference to new heights.
Slive’s commissionership saw him become a face of college football administration as he was over the conference in its seven-year streak of national championships from
2006 to 2012, but he tenure accomplished more than that. It was Slive that forced athletic directors’ hands into investing in basketball, a proclamation that inspired coaching hires still succeeding to this day and facility improvements in the last decade.
Little Slive did had more impact than the advent of SEC Network. Mississippi State Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Financial Officer Jared Benko recently told The Dispatch the proliferation of the network and the money it has generated has played a significant role in MSU’s financial rise in recent years.
The death still weighs heavily on Sankey, but he knows Slive’s impact extends beyond the realm of college athletics. He noted the Saturday just passed would have been the 50th wedding anniversary for Slive and his wife Liz.
“Losses like this serve as reminders, reminders of friendships, reminders of moments, reminders of achievement, reminders of the tough times and the great times,” Sankey said.
Sankey remembers Alex Wilcox
The tributes to former Mississippi State softball player Alex Wilcox continued Monday, as Sankey took time in his opening address to honor her. Wilcox died June 25 after battling ovarian cancer through her freshman season as a Bulldog.
“As I conclude today, I’ll do so by honoring a young women who made a profound impact during her short time as an SEC student-athlete,” Sankey said.
“Every one of the SEC softball teams rallied around Alex in the No One Fights Alone campaign. I want you to understand this was not the result of something my office did or conference meeting or an administrative idea.
On their own to encourage and care for a member of the SEC family, every softball team in the conference displayed its support for Alex through videos, wearing teal uniforms, displaying Alex’s name on their helmets, pregame gear on their bracelets that they wore.
“We are still saddened by Alex’s untimely passing. We are encouraged and humbled by the leadership shown by the young women on the softball teams, and that’s why we honored every one of those teams with the SEC’s Sportsmanship’s Award this year.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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