Smart Backs SEC Secession Threat Amid CFP and NIL Standoff

The award for the most explosive comment dropped at spring meetings firmly goes to Georgia Bulldogs’ head coach Kirby Smart, who announced that he is ready to break the SEC away from the NCAA for good. Both Smart and Bulldogs president Jere Morehead are in lockstep with their comments about possible SEC independence as frustrations keep growing over the proposed College Football Playoff expansion and the Wild West of NIL spending reaching points of absurdity.

Smart said that he’s always been an advocate for secession and playing by their own rules if they ultimately can’t all reach an agreement. The crux of the matter centers on both NIL and CFP expansion, where this is no consensus on a 12-team, 16-team, or 24-team format. The Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish all favor a 24-team CFP while the SEC is in firm opposition. However, it all hinges on the Big Ten and SEC, who must be in agreement for anything to change. That doesn’t seem likely at present, with president Morehead saying he would vote to create SEC-specific rules in the absence of federal NIL legislation.

To read more about the major comments made by Smart and the alarms being sounded by the Bulldogs, here is the full story from Georgia Roundtable writer Michael Brauner.

The SEC is not pleased by the lack of guardrails on NIL spending and NCAA investigations that have dragged on. Smart clarified that he is for athletes earning money, but in a way that levels the playing field and is sustainable long term. Anything about these talks couldn’t realistically come to fruition for at least five or more years, but it marks a real watershed moment in college athletics.