Count the SEC's most successful active coach in favor of the conference breaking away from the NCAA.
One day after commissioner Greg Sankey kicked off SEC Media Days on Monday by admitting the conference is having "real" conversations about leaving the NCAA, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart weighed in on the topic.
"I've actually been saying that for a long time to our president and our administrators," Smart said Tuesday on ESPN's "Get Up" when asked if he sees an independent structure in the SEC's future.
He added, "I've learned that, until we get governance and we have someone that actually has the power to make decisions, or we can make decisions within our own community, we're not going to have much control."
Smart's been steadfast in his opinion for a while. In May, he went on the record during the SEC's spring meetings about the possibility of the conference seceding from the NCAA.
"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," Smart said at the time. "I'm talking about all the sports and do by our own rules. I'd be all for that."
On Monday, Sankey outlined multiple reasons that the SEC has discussed going independent, including what he deems a lack of transparency from the NCAA around NIL payments, congressional legislation, litigation from the new five-year eligibility rule, and the future of the College Football Playoff.
The SEC remains the only major conference not fully on board with the playoff expansion to 24 teams. An expanded playoff would likely signal the end of conference championship games, a scenario that the presidents and coaches of various SEC schools have pushed back against. It would also extend the season deeper into the calendar - an issue Smart spoke to Tuesday.
"I would love to see the flow of the season go like ... week to week, maybe a bye week in there, but a continuous thing," Smart said. "No sport that I know of shuts down for 25 to 30 days between performances."
He added, "We've got some opportunities to do that in the future. I hope we can get to that point. But the format we play with now is great. When it was a two-team format, I was part of it. When it was four teams, I was part of it. You can also argue the opposite, especially if it doesn't go your way. That's not who I am."
