Will Greg Sankey become the next NCAA president? Exploring the future opportunities for the SEC Commissioner

Greg Sankey is the current commissioner of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), but he could become the NCAA president in the future.

Sankey has been in charge of the SEC since 2015. He was hired as an associate commissioner in 2002. Since taking over, Sankey has made the SEC bigger than ever and has been a significant part of college football expansion.

He has done a great job as SEC commissioner. CBS reporter Dennis Dodd believes the New York native could become the NCAA president.

"Greg Sankey right now is making a good case for being a) head of the @NCAA or b) president of college football. That's always been the case but he's articulated the issues now with some strident language."

As Dodd points out, if he isn't the president of the NCAA, he could lead college football. As of late, there has been some talk of college football breaking away from the NCAA and becoming its own league.

If that does happen, someone would need to lead it, and Sankey would be a great fit, especially with how well he has done with the SEC.

Currently, the NCAA president is Charlie Baker, who has held the role since March 2023. In his first year, Baker has dealt with plenty of realignment, which he says is not good for the NCAA.

"I share concerns about the impact that the recent spate of conference realignment activities will have on student-athletes' well-being," Baker said in a statement. "The recent conference moves highlight what I found during my review of the issues facing the NCAA—the growing gap between well-resourced Division I schools and the rest of the division is highly disruptive for all of D-I and college sports overall."

Although Baker has only been the NCAA president for a few months, Dodd and others have already called for him to be replaced.

Greg Sankey's content with teams in the SEC

When the Pac-12 began to fall apart, many wondered if the SEC and Greg Sankey would try adding west coast teams to multiple time zones.

However, Sankey says that was never something the SEC was looking at. Instead, he feels like the conference is in a great spot, with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference in 2024.

"We're in an enormously healthy place. We're not in the middle of the current movement efforts," Sankey said.

Currently, Greg Sankey will continue to run the SEC, but if college football breaks away from the NCAA, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him run it.