During an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke about several topics involving the SEC and college athletics in general. One of the topics mentioned early on between Finebaum and Sankey revolved around the incident that took place during the fourth quarter of Tennessee’s game against Ole Miss
“The situation in Knoxville was unique,” Sankey said. “I recognize that there are fans who were upset because when Tennessee played basketball at Ole Miss in 2019, after the game, there were items thrown on the court.”
Following the Volunteers’ win over Ole Miss on the basketball court in February of 2019, Ole Miss fans showed their frustration by throwing trash onto the court after the contest. In videos of the incident, trash was seen sliding across the court and ending up near the Tennessee players. Jump forward a couple of years to when Tennessee and Ole Miss matched up again, except this time, on the gridiron. A delay, lasting just under 20 minutes, took place in the fourth quarter as Tennessee fans in certain portions of the stadium threw their garbage onto the field. The sideline was eventually deemed unsafe for the Ole Miss team after a golf ball was thrown at Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin.
“We have not had, and I’m a few days away from my 19th year as a member of the SEC staff, games interrupted by fan behavior like that,” Sankey said on Wednesday. “That just has not happened. I greatly appreciate the leadership of Chancellor Plowman, of athletic director Danny White in addressing the issue, following up, and looking to learn how they can improve. But we also have a responsibility across the conference. A fine in that circumstance, I deemed appropriate. It was specified, after that incident in Oxford, that we would have the immediate imposition of fines. And, because we have alcohol introduced, I have the authority to remove the alcohol sales opportunity, which is defined in this league as a privilege for our members. We didn’t do that, but we reminded everyone that that possibility is there when we have misbehavior interrupt a game in the way it did that particular night.”
After the incident occurred in Neyland Stadium, Tennessee was hit with penalties by the SEC. The four requirements that were forced upon Tennessee by the commissioner’s office were:
- Be assessed a financial penalty of $250,000, which will be deducted from the University’s share of SEC revenue distribution.
- Be required to use all available resources, including security, stadium, and television video, to identify individuals who threw objects onto the playing field or at the opposing team. All individuals identified as having been involved in disrupting the game shall be prohibited from attending Tennessee Athletics events for the remainder of the 2021-22 academic and athletic year.
- Review and update its Athletics Department game management procedures and alcohol availability policies to prevent a recurrence of Saturday night’s disruption, which shall include an evaluation of agreed-upon SEC Sportsmanship, Game Management, and Alcohol policies to verify full compliance with existing standards.
- Following completion of this review and prior to the University of Tennessee’s next home football game, the University shall provide a report to the Conference Office to summarize its efforts to identify and penalize offenders and its plan to enact policies to prevent future similar incidents while ensuring compliance with Conference standards.
9 Responses
Dear Commissioner Sankey,
This incident had very little to do with alcohol. It might be easy to brush it off as so, but the truth lies in officiating. The call on the field may have been right, but the root cause analysis should look beyond that. Neither the alcohol or that 1 specific call are the reason for this behavior. Perhaps looking at all of the flopping that went on in the game enabling this play to get to fourth down and providing the ability to substitute freely should be examined. I understand that players get hurt, but 5 plays in a row? 11 times in one quarter? This game should be ruled a no contest. The integrity of the game is at stake and trying to push this off on alcohol will only create a greater divide. Look for the root cause.
Gregg sankey is a crook. Thru and thru. People pay hard earned money to go to these sporting events, some use their last dollars to take their kid, and sankey has these officials cheating to further advance the better ranked teams. How can I say it’s cheating? Because if it were simply mistakes the officials would be reprimanded, but they are not…this means sankey is embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars since these people are expecting a clean, fair contest. But rather the winners are pretty much predetermined.
Ole Miss never flopped the following week against LSU. They were laughing as they came off the field. Kiffen again made a mockery of TN and SEC so be it. What goes around, comes around. Except for Vols getting any justified calls from officials. Perhaps some day.
And the video of Old Miss frat boys getting their @sses kicked by LSU fans the following week? Thanks
What created all of this was the refs making bad calls and all the fake injuries that was played out by Ole Miss. Both of these could have been talked about and something done to prevent such incidents to continue. But no as it turns out. Tennessee fans made themselves the bad guy by throwing objects onto the field and a golf ball hitting Kiffin in the arm and the result was a. $250,000 dollar fined, finding and suspending all involved and reviewing all alcohol requirements before the 13th of November game against Georgia or lose the alcohol license. Quite frankly you can place the blame on Kiffin and the refs and because they were trying to protect a qb’s chance at the Heisman. I strongly recommend that the SEC do a thorough review and either implement or have rules changes regarding of what went on in Knoxville and at all future SEC games.
I disagree
Kiffin should be charged with inciting a riot!
A very good, precise and accurate response Sir and I commend you.
Could not say it any better Mark. Will things change? No
ALL WOULD NOT NOT HAVE HAPPENED HAD THE OFFICIATING CREW DONE THEIR JOB CORRECTLY AND FAIRLY, ! BAD CALLS ON TENN AND FO OLE MISS NOT TO MENTION ALL OF THE FAINTING GOATS FROM OLE MISS WAS RIDICULOS !!!!! BAD OFFICIATING CREW ALL AROUND ! WHICH IS WHY THEY GOT REJECTED BY THE OTHER GAME THEY WERE ORIGIONALY ASSIGNED TO…. IS THAT NOT ENOUGH TO AT LEAST SEPERAT THAT GROUP OF OFFICIALS BETWEEN OTHER GROUPS. NOT SEC QUALIFIED FOR SEC TOGETHER, INCOMPETENT GROUP !!!!!