SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talks to SDS about Jeffery Simmons
A lot of coaches had impressive performances this past week at SEC Media Days when speaking at the podium.
Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen was not one of them. He was much more interested in talking about the Yeezy Boosts he wore with his suit — “see how hip I am, recruits?” — than the vexed Jeffery Simmons situation.
Simmons, a five-star defensive end who signed with the Bulldogs as part of the 2016 recruiting class, was caught on video beating a woman at a family function gone awry. The fact that he was still admitted to MSU isn’t the issue. The slap-on-the-wrist punishment is what rubbed so many outside Starkville the wrong way.
Rehabilitation from such a cowardly act most likely takes more than counseling and a one-game suspension.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey did make a valid point Monday when asked a non-specific question about domestic violence following his opening comments: “Be careful of judging one’s character on 10 seconds of video.”
But if you’re going to punish the young man, then punish the young man. Mississippi State opens with South Alabama — not exactly the Egg Bowl. And the video in question doesn’t just catch Simmons smoking a joint or stealing some swag. He’s repeatedly punching a defenseless girl lying on her back right in the face.
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When Mullen was asked about the punishment coming off as lenient, he distanced himself from the incident.
“I wasn’t involved as much,” he said Tuesday. “It was a university decision, but I was just thrilled that we’re having Jeffery as part of our family coming in. As I said, I take a lot of pride as a coach on developing young men to be champions, not just on the field, off the field, and every part of their life to be successful in whatever it is they do. And that’s not an easy process.”
You’ll notice that at no point did Mullen acknowledge what Simmons did. Or how truly deplorable it was. Had Simmons not been a blue-chip prospect on everyone’s radar, Mullen probably isn’t so welcoming.
“Coaches, we get judged a lot on a 60-minute game on Saturday,” he continued. “But our real job goes well beyond that. We have four to five years to make a positive impact on young people’s lives, and hopefully they leave better men in our program than when they came and they can go out and have successful lives and be successful in their futures and make positive impacts in their communities.”
Toward the end of the Q&A session, after doing his best to navigate the conversation toward scheduling and quarterbacks, Mullen was again asked about violence — this time in much more direct fashion. What if this wasn’t a one-time slip? What if a student on campus is the next victim? Should Mullen be held responsible?
“We’re all responsible,” Mullen said. At this point, he may as well have been moonwalking in those Yeezys.
Upon moving from the main media room to the radio/internet room for another round of Q&A, Mullen’s tone-deafness went from bad to worse. What if that was your wife, Coach? What if your daughter had been beaten?
“I don’t think my family would be in that situation,” he responded, to the astonishment of many. You heard him right. Fights don’t break out at his poolside backyard barbecues. Only hot dogs, lemonade and sparklers.
Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
It wasn’t just print, radio and TV that couldn’t believe their ears. Social media lit him up mercilessly.
Due to time constraints, Sankey was only able to take a few questions from members of the media. While he was asked about domestic violence in general, he was not questioned about the Simmons ordeal specifically.
No matter who made the decision on Simmons with regard to his punishment, most everyone not wearing maroon shook their heads — more preferential treatment for a star athlete. Had they truly valued the safety of coeds over the football program, he would have been suspended a year. Perhaps even lost his scholarship.
Sankey addresses SEC’s role
Saturday Down South spoke with Sankey on Wednesday in order to clarify his thoughts on the subject.
SDS: When the Jeffery Simmons discipline was initially handed down by Mississippi State, how pleased were you with the decision? Did your feelings change after some of the backlash that occurred when people thought maybe they took it too easy on him?
Sankey: “The decision is a university decision. Let’s be clear about that. When it occurred, during a pretty lengthy press conference we had in Destin because that’s when it was announced, I talked about the difficulty surrounding those circumstances. I haven’t gone through publicly and evaluated the outcome.
“I have noted that there are many points of concern that are consistently identified. One of those relates to the one-game suspension. The university had its reasons for making that decision and know the appropriate source for that explanation.”
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SDS: At the conference level, when it comes to a transfer who has a similar charge, there are rules in place. But it’s different for a kid coming out of high school. Could this potentially be a recruiting issue, where maybe it’s an advantage for one school to let a kid in when another school won’t? Do these decisions need to be made at the conference level versus the university level?
Sankey: “We have any number of rules as a conference that govern whether someone’s able to participate or not. With some level of frequency, people are directed elsewhere. I have never evaluated those as recruiting issues about we should be concerned. It’s about how do you properly apply our policies.
“We have and did talk about a misconduct policy that would apply to incoming freshmen. We have a working group that’s spent a great deal of time evaluating a number of issues and decided that that would remain a decision made both from enrollment and accountability at the institutional level and appropriately so for enrollment.
“It’s an ongoing topic of conversation. I acknowledged that from the beginning when this story, if you will, broke. I’ve said it this week, and I’ve tried to be as direct as I can saying we’ve got to be attentive given our visibility to issues like this around this conduct of individuals.”
Just like how Mullen distanced himself from the decision, Sankey distanced himself from Mississippi State. If Simmons becomes a repeat offender, Mullen can say he wasn’t involved. So too can Sankey and the league.
Nobody is saying Simmons doesn’t deserve a second chance. Too many of us have done terrible things at 18 years old — this particular transgression is hard to forgive, though. MSU fans are defending their team, as you’d expect. However, had Simmons enrolled at Ole Miss instead, they’d be singing a different tune.
Mullen can try to distract us with his $1,500 sneakers. But the Simmons story isn’t sneaking by anyone.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South. You can send him an e-mail directly at jcrist@saturdaydownsouth.com or follow him on Twitter @SaturdayJC.
