COMMENTARY: SEC gets it right, even if LSU doesn't agree

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Finally, the Southeastern Conference has stood up against those desperados from LSU.

Tigers football coach Lane Kiffin, the face of the villain in this entire escapade, had it all lined up. Kiffin had tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who played for him at Ole Miss, all set to sign at LSU now that Wright was cut from the Cleveland Browns and his NFL dream ended.

Kiffin knew this day was coming. He knew the NCAA and his brethren in the coaching fraternity weren’t going to stand for it. 

I doubt he really expected the SEC to come out in a unified front to squash the plan he had had in place for a while.

Tuesday, the SEC presidents council — including LSU president Dr. Wade Rousse — had an informal vote and unanimously stood to ban any players who had signed a professional contract or spent any time on a professional roster from playing.

Wednesday, when the formal vote was taken, someone must have gotten to Rousse. Instead of being the lone dissenter, he abstained.

Then came the news of the penalties for violating the agreement:

— The suspension for half the season of the head coach.

— A fine of 50% of the specific sport’s annual operating budget.

— Revocation of SEC voting privileges on business matters.

All three of those sanctions would be great deterrents for even the most brazen offender like Kiffin. Those are problems you don’t want to risk in losing a court case when so many issues are stacked against.

There’s always the argument: Membership in the NCAA and the SEC is voluntary. The school chose to belong and membership comes with rules and guidelines.

The Big Ten was the pacesetter when it came to coming out against the practice of signing players who had signed NFL contracts. Give the boys up north all the credit. The SEC got shamed into following suit. 

Then came the rest of the country.

It’s almost impossible to get everyone in a conference to agree on anything. Even 15 of 16 is rare. With so many coaches thinking about the possibility of those additions, having the proposal passed with those numbers was kind of amazing.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White is a major proponent of a collective bargaining agreement for college sports that could rein in some of the ridiculous happenings with NIL.

The proposed model includes revenue sharing, position-based compensation caps for players and an agent certification system.

Before anything like that could go into practice, there are so many legal logistics that must be worked out.

Once those legal issues could be negotiated, it would still take something just shy of a miracle that could be able to construct a plan that would be able to work across the board.

Whatever the case, college sports are in a crisis now. 

At least this development was a small step toward a solution. 

Let’s see if those ex-NFL guys decide to take this thing into court.

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