Greg Sankey Must Finally Take Action and Expel the Tennessee Volunteers From the SEC Before They Damage the Conference Further

It’s time for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to make the kind of decision that defines leadership, vision, and preservation of what the Southeastern Conference stands for. It’s time for Sankey to kick the Tennessee Volunteers out of the SEC.

That’s not an exaggeration. That’s not an emotional overreaction to a controversial call, an offhanded remark, or a minor scandal. This is about years of dysfunction, disregard for sportsmanship, and a culture that no longer fits what the SEC ought to be moving toward. Sankey’s legacy will not only be built on how much money the league generates or how many national titles are won under his watch—it will hinge on whether or not he’s willing to clean house and make the hard choices that shape the future. And there’s no harder but more necessary decision right now than cutting the Tennessee Volunteers loose.

For decades, Tennessee has traded on its reputation and historical success in football and a few other marquee sports, but the glory days are long gone. Since the late 1990s, the Volunteers have turned into a caricature of their former selves—constant turnover, scandals, booster interference, and a fan base that seems more interested in blaming the SEC, the media, or anyone but themselves for their consistent failures. Other SEC schools have endured rough patches and rebuilds, but Tennessee’s descent has been coupled with toxicity that embarrasses the league year after year.

Let’s start with football, the face of the SEC. Tennessee has hired coach after coach with varying degrees of credibility, only to sabotage itself from within. Lane Kiffin was there and gone in a year, but not before stirring controversy with NCAA violations that hung over the program for years. Derek Dooley and Butch Jones followed—neither of whom had business leading a program of Tennessee’s supposed stature. Jeremy Pruitt was perhaps the most glaring misfire, ushering in an era of alleged pay-for-play schemes under the table during a time when NIL was still a forbidden phrase. When the NCAA finally came calling, the program took the coward’s route and self-imposed punishments, hoping to skirt accountability.

And yet somehow, through all the scandals and underperformance, the loudest voices from Tennessee have been those of blame and arrogance. They cling to a national championship from the 1998 season as if it were yesterday. They shout about unfair treatment when officiating doesn’t go their way, call for league-wide conspiracy theories, and actively boo injured players from opposing teams. Tennessee’s fan behavior has made headlines multiple times, most notably during the 2021 Ole Miss game when trash, bottles, and even golf balls rained onto the field in a nationally televised debacle that nearly got the game called off. This was not the act of a few bad fans—this was a full-blown meltdown from a fanbase that refuses to accept mediocrity but does everything possible to ensure its continuation.

When a school consistently underachieves, lashes out, and then turns every failure into a grievance against the league itself, it becomes a liability. The SEC prides itself on competition, tradition, and excellence. Tennessee increasingly represents the opposite: chaos, dysfunction, and excuses. Sankey has been more than fair. He’s protected Tennessee from harsher penalties. He’s allowed them to rehabilitate their image. But the pattern hasn’t changed, and if anything, it’s gotten worse. Even in recent seasons, when Josh Heupel’s offense showed signs of life, fans and media surrounding the program immediately returned to their old ways—talking about championships as if they were inevitable, accusing officials and SEC headquarters of plotting against them when things went south, and poisoning the atmosphere for opponents with classless taunts and behavior.

And the rot isn’t just in football. Tennessee’s athletic culture has bred this sense of entitlement and rule-bending across the board. Whether it’s in baseball under Tony Vitello, whose antics often border on unprofessional, or in basketball, where controversial physical play under Rick Barnes has drawn criticism, Tennessee seems proud to play the villain. That would be fine if it was just swagger and success—but it’s not. It’s performative toughness, coupled with underachievement and a refusal to acknowledge the standards of conduct that the SEC promotes.

Then there’s the relationship with other schools in the league. Ask coaches and players off the record, and many will tell you the same thing: playing at Tennessee is one of the most unpleasant experiences in the conference. The vitriol, the threats, the sense that nothing is off-limits—it’s all part of a home-field “advantage” that increasingly feels toxic, not tough. Rivalries are supposed to be heated, not hostile to the point of danger. Tennessee doesn’t toe the line—they trample over it, time and again.

What does it say about the SEC if it allows Tennessee to continue unchecked? What does it say to recruits, families, coaches, and administrators across the country if one of the league’s most dysfunctional and disrespectful programs gets to keep reaping the benefits of SEC membership without any consequences? There comes a point where tradition and name recognition cannot outweigh behavior and results. Tennessee has tested those boundaries for years. They’ve failed to fix their internal issues. They’ve blamed everyone else. They’ve mocked the process and undermined the standards Sankey claims to uphold. Enough is enough.

This isn’t about one game, one scandal, or one coach. This is about an institutional failure of culture. Tennessee is not interested in changing—they’re interested in coasting on their history, weaponizing their fan base, and crying foul anytime accountability comes knocking. If the SEC is serious about being the premier conference in college sports, it cannot afford to carry schools that damage its reputation and drain its credibility. Tennessee has become that school.

Expelling a member of the SEC would be unprecedented. It would come with backlash, with cries of unfairness, with legal threats. But leadership isn’t about taking the easy route. Sankey has overseen the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. He’s helped navigate the league through realignment, NIL, and the transfer portal era. But his legacy will be incomplete if he allows toxic institutions to continue dragging down the SEC’s image.

There are other conferences that might welcome Tennessee with open arms—conferences that value name-brand appeal over culture. Let them go. Let them take their drama, their excuses, and their diluted expectations elsewhere. The SEC has outgrown this version of Tennessee. Maybe they’ll figure things out in another league. Maybe not. But they shouldn’t be allowed to continue their charade in the most respected conference in college sports.

Tennessee once embodied SEC pride. Now, they’re its most glaring contradiction. Greg Sankey doesn’t just have the power to make a change—he has the responsibility. It’s time to stop waiting. It’s time to stop hoping they’ll change. It’s time to kick Tennessee out of the SEC.