Louisiana Voice

By Paul Spillman

LSU blinked. So did SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and SEC presidents. Depending on which side of the aisle you stand either the SEC asserted its authority over rogue LSU or LSU called the bluff of butt-hurt egos all in their feelings. Either way the silly threat of expelling founding member LSU from the Southeastern Conference has come to an end.

The SEC asked for a continuance in its federal lawsuit against LSU Wednesday after LSU submitted its final 105 man football roster Tuesday evening and did not include Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, the two players granted a fifth year of eligibility who had worked out for NFL teams, and has no scheduled court date to resume. Then later Wednesday the SEC canceled the meeting it had scheduled to vote on expelling LSU.

The entire fiasco only served to illustrate the previously unknown pettiness of Greg Sankey, the clueless self-righteousness of academicians, and to call out the Banana Republic of Louisiana and its ham-handed politicians.

The brief timeline of events is as follows: In early August a federal court grants a temporary restraining order against the NCAA allowing certain athletes from the class of 2022 another year of college eligibility. In the days that followed LSU announces its pursuit of and intent to sign two of those athletes who, believing they had no eligibility remaining, had signed as free agents with NFL teams attempting to make a roster. The SEC then calls a hasty meeting and passes an ill-thought-out rule banning “professional” athletes from returning to any SEC school. Lane Kiffin, with the silent support of LSU puppet president Wade Rousse and puppet Athletic Director Verge Ausberry, claims to only be following court orders and submits a football roster of 103 names for the Clemson game leaving two spots open to be filled at a later date. Then at halftime of LSU’s blowout win over Clemson Kiffin can’t help himself and blurts out, “Imagine if we had used pro players” tweaking Greg Sankey and the SEC. Now all in their feels the SEC files an amended lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent LSU from blocking a scheduled meeting to vote on expelling LSU and accusing the university of “a lack of institutional control.” Tuesday evening LSU submits its final 105 man roster without the players in question and on Wednesday Rousse sends a letter to the SEC clarifying that he notified Sankey prior to the Clemson game the players would not be on the roster and noting LSU never tried to block their meeting and had no intention of blocking their meeting. On Wednesday morning the SEC asks for a continuance of its lawsuit (which will eventually be dropped altogether) and then Wednesday evening cancels its meeting to vote on expulsion.

Both sides stepped back from the brink.

So what did we learn from this? We learned university presidents are academicians with little grasp of the complexities involved in modern college athletics. The presidents hastily voted to ban any athlete who had signed a professional contract from returning to college. But the modern athletic scene is shades of gray, not black and white. Such a ban dismisses the circumstance of a player like Harris. Harris thought his eligibility had been used up and he still wanted to play football. He was recovering from a foot injury but signed a free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints. In the NFL teams gain the “rights” to players by signing them to contracts and depending on what kind of contract is signed a team may retain or lose rights to a player according to the terms of the contract. A free agent contract is basically an agreement to work out the player to evaluate whether the team wants to add the player to its roster and prevents other teams from signing the same player during that evaluation period. In Harris’ case his foot injury prevented him from working out or practicing with the Saints. He never suited up for a preseason game and was cut from the team. But according to SEC presidents that makes Harris a “pro” football player and banned from returning to a SEC school. Which only proves SEC presidents should worry about their endowments and leave athletics to athletic directors. And that’s without even mentioning the hypocrisy of their silence on international club “pros” playing basketball in the SEC for more than a decade.

We also learned Sankey has a streak of pettiness previously hidden from the world. Sankey always presented himself as the smartest man in the room. During the conference’s heyday of a few years ago Sankey was considered by many to be the de facto leader of college athletics. But Sankey has been on a mile long losing streak and it’s starting to show. The threat to expel LSU is a measure of how much Greg Sankey despises Lane Kiffin for being Lane Kiffin, and LSU for letting Kiffin rub his nose in it. Sankey had previously managed to keep this aspect of his personality under wraps but the “Imagine if we used pro players” tweak was just too much for him to swallow.

Finally we learned that politicians running athletic departments is a disaster from every angle. If anyone thought the embarrassment of Governor Jeff Landry shooting his mouth off last fall with bogus accusations against Scott Woodward in order to force Woodward out as LSU Athletic Director was a distant memory, they were wrong. The other universities in the SEC think of Louisiana as a banana republic and LSU as a rogue actor with coaches who report to the governor, not the university president or athletic director. And for all intents and purposes it’s true. Verge Ausberry has been as silent as a mouse during this entire storm and Wade Rousse has been careful not to step on anyone’s toes or give Kiffin reason to call the governor. The governor has his Pam Bondi wannabe in AG Liz Murrill to run interference for LSU. Murrill opened her remarks in state court last week with a “Geaux Tigers.” There is nothing quite like having your own personal attorney general to trot out and represent your brand. But it’s frowned on by those who still respect ethics, propriety, and the rule of law, none of which means anything to Landry, Murrill, Lee Mallett, et al. The only thing that ilk believes is that they are entitled to wallow in their ignorant prejudices.

None of this resolves anything. There is still no rule-enforcing authority for college athletics and until there is situations like this one will continue to come up, continue to be litigated, continue to be a drag for everyone concerned. But if this doesn’t push Congress to pass legislation then likely nothing will. The SEC and other conferences continue to explore “self-rule,” which is part of the reasoning behind the SEC suing LSU, but have yet to affirm they have that authority in a federal court. If nothing happens college athletics will spiral into utter chaos within the year. Basketball hasn’t even started yet. At this point almost any resolution would be acceptable to the great majority of fans if they could just enjoy the games without all the needless drama.