Adam Sparks addresses Greg Sankey involvement in Tennessee's NCAA case

Tennessee Vols SWINGING BACK At The NCAA Over NIL Allegations

As Tennessee buckles up for a battle with the NCAA over NIL and whether it was used as an inducement to get athletes to sign with the Volunteers, lines are being drawn.

So far it’s been a relatively small contingent setting up shop against the NCAA: Tennessee, along with its chancellor Donde Plowman and the athletics department, as well as some attorneys general who have filed suit against the NCAA.

Could others, like the SEC commissioner, get involved?

“Greg Sankey is the one I think everyone is waiting to hear from,” the Knoxville News’ Adam Sparks said on the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday. “I think we have this sort of picture in our head that all these schools are going to lock arms and just charge headlong at the NCAA. That seems like sort of a neat way to do it. I doubt that that’s going to happen. Maybe it does happen and maybe it’s sort of a proxy war of using these attorneys general, as Tennessee is benefiting from right now.

“But you’re not going to get a coalition of schools that goes after the NCAA like Tennessee is trying to do right now unless you have the conference behind you. And I just don’t know if Greg Sankey is going to take that major, major step.”

Sparks was careful to note that he doesn’t want to speak for Sankey, but he expects Sankey to have at least some level of loyalty toward the existing NCAA system.

“Because I think he does want the NCAA to exist,” Sparks said. “I think he would like to move forward in a different way than it’s been. I don’t think he wants to burn the house down. I don’t want to speak for him, but that’s sort of been the approach that you’ve seen from him over the years.”

The Knoxville News writer did raise an interesting point on the Finebaum Show, though, noting that Sankey had been involved in some capacity in Tennessee’s last interaction with the NCAA.

So at a minimum he’s likely well-briefed on the current Tennessee situation.

Does Sankey already know about Tennessee’s plans and how the Volunteers plan to go about battling with the NCAA?

“The easy answer is I don’t know,” Sparks said. “The reasonable answer is I can’t imagine that they would plunge headlong into this approach without running it by the commissioner’s office. Back even again to the (Jeremy) Pruitt hearings, it was just what, seven, eight months ago, Greg Sankey was there as his duty as commissioner. He was in the room. He met with Tennessee’s attorneys. He was in the loop. He even helped a lot with strategy, as he’s supposed to do as the conference commissioner.

“I have to think Tennessee at least ran this by and said, ‘This is how we’re going to approach this.’ I don’t know that they asked for permission, but I have to think that they ran it by the commissioner’s office, and now we just wait to see if he’s going to come out in full support or wait till things settle.”

Part of waiting for things to settle could involve waiting to see what other programs might be targeted by NCAA enforcement. To date Florida State has been hit with NIL penalties, while Florida is under NCAA investigation over its recruitment of quarterback Jaden Rashada.

Would other schools emerging as targets get them to jump into a fight against the NCAA with Tennessee?

“I think Greg Sankey is probably sitting on the sidelines and watching this play out,” Sparks said. “Tennessee will not be the last one. I’ve heard in the last 24 hours anywhere from five to 20 or more schools that allegedly are on the list that are going to get hit with NIL.

“If your school in the last two to three years had a high-profile NIL signing that was in the media and it was celebrated or you had a recruiting class with a high-dollar figure in NIL over the past two or three years you can expect the NCAA will be snooping around soon.”