‘Enough is enough’ — Tennessee chancellor makes it clear where SEC stands in fight with Lane Kiffin and LSU
It’s clear the conference is digging its heels in.
The ongoing saga between the LSU Tigers and the rest of the SEC has captivated the college football world. Or, at least it’s taken center stage. Many fans and media are starting to get sick of the fight that’s developed over LSU’s acceptance of former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris after their releases by their respective NFL teams.
Wright, Harris, and other players managed to secure a temporary injunction against the NCAA weeks ago, and now, they’ve got one against the SEC and their commissioner Greg Sankey, at least for the time being. There is a hearing schedule on the matter for Thursday in Baton Rouge.
But the SEC in recent days hasn’t backed down regardless of the pending legal matter in Louisiana. Threats have emerged of punishments ranging from probation to expulsion from the conference.
And according to University of Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, that fight is going nowhere. Plowman spoke with ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Mark Schlabach, and she makes it clear the conference is going to dig its heels in here.
Tennessee chancellor and SEC executive committee president Donde Plowman says the prohibition of using NFL players ‘is not a rule we will budge on’
“We have a responsibility to try and lead the best we can in this time of chaos,” Thamel and Schlabach quote Plowman as saying. “Our group is united on this. This is not a rule we will budge on.” She added: “Enough is enough.”
“It’s not a new rule,” Thamel/Schlabach quoted Plowman as adding about NFL players returning. “We didn’t just cook up a rule. It’s not a new rule. The way we see it. We are a voluntary membership organization, and we have a right to set and enforce our rules. We want to clarify — this is not about the five-for-five.
That’s about as firm as you’re going to hear a top-end conference official speak about an issue, so it’s worth noting the stand that Plowman and the SEC executive committee is taking here.
But then again, there’s no alternative but to fight this. Acquiescing to players trying to return to the college game after having signed an NFL contract or otherwise appeared on an NFL roster invites chaos and anarchy and a complete blurring of the lines between amateurism (if that even still exists in the NIL era) and the professional level.
At the end of the day, the players chose to advance their career to the NFL level, and even though they may not have had the facts about all of their options, everyone has always known that once you cross that bridge into the NFL, there’s no coming back.
“This is about — if you signed a contract, you signed a contract,” Plowman added. “That’s always been the bottom line. You don’t get to unsign it and come back.”
