Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is taking a stand for UGA and the rest of the SEC. Carr sent an open letter to Greg Sankey that supports removing LSU from the conference. Lane Kiffin's Tigers are operating under favorable Louisiana court rulings over the SEC's guidance not to bring back any players who've been with an NFL franchise.
In layman's terms, Kiffin is doing whatever the hell he wants instead of listening to the conference figurehead. It's causing outrage among school presidents and now, state AGs too.
Good thing Auburn didn't hire this man.
Carr believes LSU shouldn't get to use the SEC's resources while ultimately defying the conference's leadership, all while scamming to gain a competitive advantage.
"College athletics are for college athletes only, and we are grateful the SEC has taken swift action to maintain that standard," Carr wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN. "However, the rules cannot be ignored or twisted to benefit one coach, one institution, or one program, and we refuse to stand by while that happens.
"Conference members have the freedom to associate with institutions committed to following NCAA and Conference rules. No institution should be allowed to ignore the obligations of Conference membership while continuing to receive the benefits of membership."
The state Carr protects the public interest of is paying into LSU's tomfoolery funds. This is an understandable complaint.
Legitimate LSU expulsion threat or SEC soap opera?
Of course, you have to question the narrative a little bit since it's being released by ESPN's Pete Thamel during game week. LSU is hosting Clemson in Death Valley on ABC/ESPN airwaves on Saturday night in one of Week 1's biggest matchups. It's Kiffin's first game coaching the Bayou Bengals.
It's just convenient to generate these rumors right now, is all.
Carr almost certainly does want to expel LSU to make the road easier for Georgia in the conference. He's probably not the only AG in SEC country who favors getting rid of the Tigers. It'd be nice to hear Alabama AG Steve Marshall weigh in on this either way.
Does Sankey want to remove a cash cow like LSU, though, which would take the conference out of the New Orleans and Louisiana regional markets? There's not a ready-made replacement available unless Tulane is added in its place and thrown into the fire. Tulane doesn't operate with an SEC budget, even with an overperforming Green Wave Fund.
Beyond that, what if LSU discovers how good Notre Dame has it as an independent? That could have the SEC's biggest brands, like Texas and Alabama, considering the same thing.
That'd be the death of the SEC. It'd probably be the death of the modern collegiate athletic conference system, too.
Does Auburn benefit from LSU leaving the conference?
LSU leaving the conference could open the door for a school like Auburn to do the same down the road. Auburn has already scheduled national powerhouses like Notre Dame, Penn State, and Oregon over the past seven years. Maybe it's possible for conference independence to go well on the Plains.
With that said, AU stood in solidarity with the rest of the conference to ban ex-NFL players from re-entering the college ranks. SEC membership benefits the Tigers; not as much as the Longhorns, which became the most valuable brand in the sport through SEC membership, but still plenty. The SEC yields the highest average revenue per athletic department at $215.5 million per school, after all.
LSU's future in the SEC, or out of it, affects all 15 other SEC teams, all 66 other Power 4 teams, and, truthfully, all 137 other FBS programs.
We'll see if Kiffin and LSU eventually reap what they've been sowing.
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