Tag: SEC news

Auburn reveals SEC basketball schedule

Auburn will look to have another perfect season at Neville Arena.

The SEC announced the men’s basketball conference schedule on Wednesday and Auburn will end the season with a tough stretch of games.

The Tigers will begin their SEC regular-season championship defense on Dec. 28 when the Florida Gators visit Neville Arena. The Tigers will then travel to Athens on Jan. 4 for their first conference road game of the season.

Last season the [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] and Co. were a perfect 16-0 at home and were one of just nine schools to sell out every home game.

Auburn will play each SEC opponent once and will play Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Alabama twice. Here is a look at Auburn’s conference schedule broken down by month.

Greg Sankey weighs in on how TV partners will influence scheduling

Greg Sankey recently spoke on how TV partners could play into scheduling decisions

How future schedules will be made is one of the biggest conversations in college football right now.

The latest round of conference realignment has brought about a need to reevaluate scheduling. Even conferences such as the Big Ten, which did not participate in realignment, are looking what they need to do to make the conference as competitive as possible.

Media partners are as interested the coming scheduling shakeups as anyone. Interesting schedules mean interesting games, and that’s good for TV.

However, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the league’s media partners will not be dictating the new format, but they will be kept in the loop.

“I don’t talk about TV contracts,” Sankey said, according to On3’s Nick Schultz. “We keep our future TV partner … long up to speed on the conversations.”

Sankey knows what we all know: The SEC will be one of the top brands in sports no matter the schedule. The TV partners know this, as well, which allows the SEC to call the shots. With Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference, that power only grows.

Some of the new formats being discussed involve the conference moving to nine conference games. It’s not clear how this would affect nonconference scheduling and if that extra game would take the place of a Group of Five or FCS opponent, or Power Five opponent, instead.

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SEC Morning Rush: ‘It just means more’ conference games?

It’s time to enjoy your coffee and the top stories of the day.

The head coaches in the SEC descended upon Florida for the coaches’ meeting in which they would tackle a variety of topics for the week. One of those topics includes the future scheduling of the conference.

Everything should be on the table for the top conference in college football. The current model has seven teams per division with eight conference games and four nonconference matchups. However, with two teams being added to the mix the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns, things will change.

One idea involves a “3-6” schedule, which gives each team three permanent opponents and six games on a rotating schedule. As he said a decade ago, Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban believes that they should move to the nine-game SEC schedule.

“I’ve always been for playing more conference games,” Saban said Tuesday.

“I’ve always been for improving the college schedule, trying to eliminate some of these games that we play that fans, players, supporters are not really interested in. I think the nine-game format is a start in that direction.”

With other conferences already playing the nine-game conference format, perhaps this is the perfect time for the SEC to adopt it. More conference matchups and fewer games involving FCS teams are a good thing for the SEC.

Check out the rest of the top stories from around the SEC:

Three LSU baseball players earn All-SEC honors from the coaches

Dylan Crews, Jacob Berry and Tre’ Morgan were all honored by the 14 league coaches.

After a phenomenal sophomore season, sophomore outfielder [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] was named SEC Co-Player of the Year by the coaches, joining Auburn’s Sonny DiChiara. Crews became the first LSU player to win the award since [autotag]Raph Rhymes[/autotag] in 2012.

He also took home First-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team honors after a season in which he led the league in home runs and runs scored and finished in the top five in nearly every offensive statistic. But he’s not the only Tiger to receive recognition from the coaches.

Third baseman [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag], who is considered by some to be the top college prospect, was also named to the second-team All-SEC list. Berry’s .381 batting average leads the Tigers and ranks third in the conference. The Arizona transfer who followed coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] to the bayou also had a .400 batting average in SEC play.

First baseman [autotag]Tre’ Morgan[/autotag] was also honored, joining Crews on the All-Defensive Team. It was his second-straight selection, and he also turned in a good offensive campaign, finishing third in the SEC in doubles with 17.

LSU earned a top-four seed at the SEC Tournament this week and will take on the winner of the opening-round game between Auburn and Kentucky on Wednesday.

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LSU star outfielder Dylan Crews named SEC Co-Player of the Year

Crews led the SEC in home runs (21) and runs scored (63).

After the conclusion of what was a phenomenal sophomore season for [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], the outfielder from Longwood, Florida, is taking home some hardware.

On Monday, Crews was named SEC Co-Player of the Year alongside Auburn’s Sonny DiChiara in a vote by the 14 league coaches. He was also named to the conference’s First Team All-Defensive Team.

Crews was named the national freshman of the year last season while earning second-team All-American and All-SEC honors. He followed that up with a fantastic run in 2022. Crews ranks second on the team in batting average at .345 — second only to top college prospect [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] — and leads the way for the Tigers with 21 home runs, the most for an LSU player since [autotag]Ryan Schimpf[/autotag] knocked 22 out of the yard in 2009.

That home run total leads the SEC, and Crews also leads the conference in runs scored with 63. He ranks second in the league in triples (4), total bases (155), and RBI (67) while ranking third in hits (76) and fourth in slugging percentage (.705).

His play was a major factor in the Tigers securing a bye at the SEC Tournament this week in Hoover, Alabama. LSU’s tournament resume looks pretty good after a sweep of Vanderbilt, and a good showing this week could have this team in contention to host a regional if things can break its way.

If that’s going to happen, Crews will undoubtedly play a big role.

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Alabama Morning Drive: Nick Saban takes shot at Texas A&M, saying Aggies ‘bought every player’

The latest news and notes involving the Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday morning.

Good morning, Alabama nation! Welcome back to our Thursday edition of Alabama Morning Drive! I hope everyone is having a good week as we inch closer and closer to the weekend.

It has been a fun-filled week here at Roll Tide Wire and we are excited to bring you, even more, news and notes involving the Crimson Tide this morning.

Late Wednesday night coach [autotag]Nick Saban [/autotag] nearly broke the internet with his remarks on NIL and Texas A&M. While speaking at an event in Birmingham, Saban did not hold anything back with his accusations against his former assistant Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies.

“You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”

Coach Saban didn’t stop there, he would continue to blast programs such as Jackson State and Miami for taking advantage of NIL.

“I mean, Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it.”

“Those guys from Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000, that’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he’s doing it.”

This story will only continue to grow and progress throughout the day and Roll Tide Wire will be here every step of the way!

Let’s take a look at a few other stories that Alabama fans should be checking in on.

Former Ole Miss head coach and Tennessee assistant returning to SEC

Dave Cutcliffe will be returning to the SEC as the special assistant to the commissioner for football relations.

Last week, the SEC announced that David Cutcliffe would be joining the conference. The former Ole Miss head coach will act as the special assistant to the commissioner for football relations.

Cutcliffe will be there to offer guidance in pretty much all football-related matters, working as a liaison between the SEC offices and the coaches. He was most recently the head coach at Duke, where he found quite a bit of success, especially relative to the Blue Devils’ standards in football.

Before his time on Tobacco Road, he was the head coach at Ole Miss for about half a decade, including during the Eli Manning years. Cutcliffe’s Ole Miss teams went 2-4 against LSU, but he did give the Rebels their first 10 win season after a long drought.

Cutcliffe was replaced by former LSU head coach [autotag]Ed Orgeron[/autotag] following the 2004 season.

He also spent a good chunk of SEC time at Tennessee, where he spent years on Phillip Fulmer’s staff and coached Eli’s older brother, Peyton.

Very few are respected as much as Cutcliffe in the coaching industry, so having him build relationships between the SEC’s coaches and the conference itself can only be a good thing. This is especially true in the modern era, where alignment within the conference is critical in the college football arms race.

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Where does Matt McMahon stand among SEC coaching hires?

McMahon was listed by The State newspaper as the best new hire in the SEC.

It has been an absolutely wild start to the offseason so far for the SEC. In total, six of the 14 programs have made a coaching change.

Georgia fired coach Tom Crean and replaced him by hiring Mike White away from Florida. The Gators, in turn, hired Todd Golden from San Francisco. Missouri (Cleveland State’s Dennis Gates), Mississippi State (New Mexico State’s Chris Jans) and South Carolina (Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris) also made changes.

Included in that list is, of course, LSU. Unlike most other programs on this list, the Tigers fired [autotag]Will Wade[/autotag] in spite of guiding the team to the NCAA Tournament after he was cited in a Notice of Allegations. Replacing Wade is Murray State’s [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag].

McMahon has taken the Racers to three tournaments since taking over in 2015, and his 31-3 finish this season was the best of his career. In the rankings of the new SEC basketball coaches from The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, McMahon stands atop the list.

McMahon had his name thrown around for just about every major college opening in America this cycle and with good reason.

He finishes his time at Murray State as the winningest head coach at the school since 1975, recruited Ja Morant and owns two of the Racers’ five second round NCAA tournament appearances.

There was some thought McMahon would land at South Carolina given, among other reasons, he and Gamecocks football coach Shane Beamer have been friends dating back to their time as graduate assistants at Tennessee. Instead, McMahon heads to Baton Rouge with LSU under a cloud of NCAA sanctions.

The Tigers fired Will Wade for a slew of major NCAA violations, and while it’s unclear what kind of punishment the school will face, it’s likely to be severe.

That said, LSU is one of the better basketball jobs in the league and will pay as such. McMahon is slated to make between $2.6 million and $3.2 million annually over the duration of his seven-year contract, per The Advocate.

This might take time for McMahon to build depending on how hard the NCAA cracks down, but he profiles like a home run if he’s given ample time.

McMahon wasn’t exactly the splashy hire athletics director Scott Woodward has become known for, but given LSU’s historical standing as a basketball program and the fact that there are likely some sanctions from the NCAA coming down the pipeline, it’s hard to imagine that he could have convinced a proven coach at a power program to make the jump right now.

Instead, the Tigers get a young candidate in McMahon with a high ceiling and progressive offensive coaching style. It’s a very solid if slightly underwhelming hire that should keep the newfound success going in Baton Rouge.

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SEC extends commissioner Greg Sankey through 2026

Sankey has been the SEC commissioner since 2015, and he oversaw the new 10-year television contract with ABC and ESPN.

The Southeastern Conference will maintain leadership continuity as it undergoes realignment in the next couple of years. The league has extended commissioner Greg Sankey through 2026, it announced in a statement on Thursday.

“College athletics is in the midst of a transformational period, and the SEC is fortunate to have a highly impactful leader to guide us forward at this critical time in our history,” Jere Morehead, the SEC and University of Georgia president, said in the statement. “He has effectively introduced change and advancement for the conference while respecting the institutional traditions that make the SEC unique. His leadership and ability to foster collaboration through the COVID-19 pandemic helped establish a framework for all of college sports, and those leadership skills will be critical as we move forward with change in the years ahead.”

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The news comes on the heels of the announcement that Oklahoma and Texas have accepted invitations to join the SEC in the coming years. The Big 12’s grant of rights expires in 2025, but it’s very possible (and even likely) that the teams try to make their exit sooner than that.

Sankey has been the SEC commissioner since 2015, when he took over for Mike Slive. During that time, he helped negotiate the new 10-year SEC television deal with ABC and ESPN that replaces the expiring contract with CBS.

“I am grateful for the support of the SEC’s presidents and chancellors, and for the continuing opportunity to serve our universities while supporting the student-athletes of the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said. “We are in the midst of a time of change for college athletics, and I look forward to working with the SEC’s campus leaders to identify a path forward that will sustain the incredible success of our Conference and provide opportunities for young people to grow academically and challenge themselves athletically.”

With the college football landscape potentially set to permanently change in the coming years with the fallout from SEC realignment, it makes a lot of sense that the conference wanted to secure its future. Now under a new contract, Sankey’s tenure is set to at least match Slive’s at 13 years.

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Dawgs in the NFL: Nick Chubb ranks No. 36 on the NFL 100

Former Georgia star running back Nick Chubb is making his mark on the NFL. He is ranked No. 36 on the annual NFL 100. Details here!

Former Georgia star running back Nick Chubb is the second most prolific rusher in Georgia football history with 4, 769 yards and is now making his name heard with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL.

Chubb was recently rated No. 36 in the annual NFL 100 which ranks the 100 best players in the league. Chubb was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 35 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft where he rushed for 996 yards with eight touchdowns in his rookie season.

2019 was a break-out year for the Cedar Town, Georgia native. Chubb rushed for 1494 yards (2nd in NFL) with eight touchdowns, which earned him a 2019 Prow Bowl invitation and the Brown’s offensive MVP.

Additionally , Pro Football Focus (PFF) rated Chubb as the best running back in the NFL over the past two seasons.

“Chubb has been the best rusher in the NFL since being drafted in the second round by the Browns in 2018. He is the only running back with a PFF rushing grade north of 90.0 over that two-year stretch, and he joins Derrick Henry as one of just two running backs to average over 4 yards after contact per attempt on 100 or more carries. You won’t find any negatives on Chubb’s resume in the broken tackle department, either. No matter which way you cut it, bringing this man to the ground is not an easy task.”