Inside a Louisiana courtroom': SEC-LSU legal circus played out like a John Grisham novel in stunning showdown
BATON ROUGE, La. — SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey covertly arrived at a Louisiana courtroom Thursday morning more than an hour before the circus was scheduled to begin, just two days before LSU was set to welcome Clemson to "Death Valley.,"
Around the same time Sankey took his seat, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill stepped out of a government vehicle and made her way inside. Before entering, however, she made her allegiance clear.
"Go Tigers," Murrill, wearing a purple outfit, proclaimed before blasting both the NCAA and SEC
If you didn’t realize the courthouse was just minutes from LSU’s campus, the purple-and-gold atmosphere inside and outside the building made it clear.
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Television cameras lined the street as reporters waited for everyone connected to the lawsuit to arrive for the highly anticipated showdown.
While nearly everyone involved entered through the front door, Sankey slipped in through a side entrance, avoiding the cameras and reporters hoping to ask him questions.
Why?
The Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office later released a statement saying Sankey used the side entrance because of threats made against the commissioner before his arrival. Some people associated with the plaintiffs, however, suggested the SEC leader was simply trying to avoid questions.
All of that pregame commotion set the stage for what came next. And to put it mildly, Thursday’s hearing was dramatic.
The conference knew exactly what it was doing Thursday morning.
If you thought Sankey traveled to Baton Rouge empty-handed, you haven’t been following the gamesmanship that unfolded behind the scenes in the days leading up to the hearing.
Just minutes after Greg Sankey took a seat inside the witness box, a noticeable wave of emotions moved through the courtroom.
It was in the early morning hours of Thursday that the Southeastern Conference had initiated a preemptive strike.
The SEC had filed a federal lawsuit in Alabama against LSU, head coach Lane Kiffin and athletic department officials alleging that the school was violating First Amendment rights of the conference just as the hearing in Louisiana was getting underway.
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The SEC’s lawsuit alleges that LSU was actively recruiting NFL players to return to college while also preventing the conference from enforcing its rules against professional athletes participating in collegiate sports.
Simply put, the SEC is furious that LSU has challenged the conference’s attempts to enforce its eligibility rules for athletes returning from professional sports.
"Did you authorize the SEC to sue LSU and coach Lane Kiffin?" attorney Tony Clayton asked Sankey.
When asked why the conference took that step, Sankey pointed to the authority of the presidents and chancellors he represents.
"We established our First Amendment right for freedom of association, so that our conference can make decisions and our members can make decisions about membership," Sankey said.
The timing caught the plaintiffs off guard, with attorneys sharing the news amongst them at the table.
Clayton asked Sankey three separate times about the conference suing one of its own members before Judge Will Jorden moved the proceedings along.
Many expected the hearing to take at least an hour before producing any fireworks. Instead, the SEC’s lawsuit created chaos within minutes of Sankey taking the stand.
At the core of the lawsuit were athletes such as Dae’Quan Wright, who spent more than 10 hours inside the crowded courtroom, and their argument that they were placed in this position because of the NCAA’s decision not to grandfather the 2022 class into its new eligibility rules.
The NCAA recently adopted a five-years-to-play-five-seasons model. However, athletes who would otherwise be eligible under the new guidelines were not included.
The dispute has become even more complicated because some members of the 2022 class pursued professional opportunities after exhausting their eligibility under the previous system.
One of the central issues discussed Thursday was why the SEC created new guidelines in late August prohibiting athletes who had pursued professional careers from receiving another season of eligibility.
The argument against allowing professional athletes to return to college is easy to understand.
Most college sports fans would likely agree that a player who has signed with a professional team or participated in a professional training camp should not be allowed to return to the college ranks.
However, Clayton used the timing of the SEC’s new guidelines to attack the conference’s position. He questioned whether the rules were created in response to Judge Jorden’s initial temporary restraining order in the case.
"That was not re-establishing the rule," Greg Sankey said about the SEC's meeting just over 10 days ago in Brimingham. "The rule was the same rule before and after. The rule was there when I arrived in 2002...What was issued in the memo was consistent with the clarity that was understood by our sixteen universities, and if you have an individual on your roster under that policy, here's the accountability that will be applied."
Most people would agree that the SEC’s policy came in response to the series of court orders allowing athletes with professional experience to return to college sports. The Big Ten had already issued similar guidelines before the SEC followed suit.
But after listening to Jorden’s arguments before he granted the athletes an injunction, it was clear there was an undercurrent of concern that the conferences had coordinated their actions to undermine his initial ruling.
That possibility, however subtle, may have helped drive the legal chaos that unfolded in Baton Rouge just 48 hours before LSU was scheduled to take the field.
Call it Louisiana politics or home-field advantage, but LSU now faces a decision about how to proceed Friday afternoon — a decision that will only heighten the hostile atmosphere around campus throughout the weekend.
Now, everyone is waiting to see whether the Tigers will follow through on the chaotic effort to strengthen their roster before the season begins.
Or, as we now call it in college athletics, another Friday afternoon courtroom decision.