Sankey proves again he’s more politician than leader

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey took his victory lap before SEC Media Daze on Monday morning, then promptly declined to be a leader.

He’s a politician so that really shouldn’t be surprising.

If you’re wondering about the difference it’s pretty simple because leaders make a decision and go to it while politicians are forming committees and ducking big issues.

Sankey did that Monday, asking for federal involvement to make the rules for college athletics.

“All I can do is keep asking and making the case for why it’s necessary,” he said. “I should have paid much more attention in high school civics because I’m learning so much.”

Sankey made it clear he wanted somebody else making decisions, then the SEC will figure out how to make it work with the member institutions. For the past year and a half, Sankey has worked to form committees and listen to way too many voices instead of getting the facts and making a decision.

If that’s actually happened, he hasn’t said it, which usually means they all hang separately or, most assuredly, they will hang together, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, who kind of invented leadership by remote control.

Nobody is in charge of anything with college athletics after the NCAA basically spit the bit a couple of weeks ago.

And Sankey made it clear he’s not ready to put the SEC out front trying to provide a sense of direction and order.

He just wants to keep the money train on the tracks and rolling. Somebody else figure out the rules and the SEC will just keep making money, regardless what the rules are.