The SEC should take its ball and go home, says Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
The Bulldogs football coach vocalized his support for the conference to break from the current national structure of college sports to make its own rules if they don’t see the NCAA adopt national rules they view as satisfactory.
“I’ve been a huge advocate that we can’t find rules that everybody played by, then we should play by our own. I’m not afraid of that,” Smart told reporters on Tuesday during the first day of SEC spring meetings, according to The Athletic. “I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and have and play — I mean, like, if we could actually function and it financially would make our programs more stable, and we could support things financially. I’m talking about all the sports and do by our own rules.
“I’d be all for that.”
It appears that frustration is starting to bubble among SEC teams following the bombshell House v. NCAA settlement, which led Smart to endorse the idea of fracturing from the current structure and even holding its own football playoff.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey previously said it would be a topic of conversation this week.
The feeling is that the settlement did not bring about a level playing field for recruiting, and Smart bemoaned the constant legal challenges that prevent conferences and schools from doing certain things.
“We’re just trying to do things for the betterment of the sports and of the student-athletes, and that’s not curtailing what money they make,” he said.
“I’m not advocating that they can’t just fund what student-athletes make, I’m just trying to make it where it’s equal and it’s comparable footing for everybody, and it’s not a race to the bottom, as they say.”
