Greg Sankey provides detailed context to coin flip, addresses Vic Shaefer criticism, online conspiracies

With South Carolina and Texas tied atop the SEC women's basketball standings, a coin flip was used to break the tie for the No. 1 seed

One of the more unusual events in modern college football unfolded on Sunday. With South Carolina and Texas tied atop the SEC women’s basketball standings, a coin flip was used to break the tie for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Commissioner Greg Sankey performed the act, landing on South Carolina live on SEC Network.

Sankey appeared on The Paul Finebaum Show Monday afternoon, providing further context of the whole charade. His day started out normally, going to church before getting lunch with his wife. But when Sankey got home, his office was already set up for the television production, and the coin was ready to go.

“When I came in, I was a little bit surprised — the TV setup was already there, camera, lights, film, our cameraman, producer,” Sankey said. “And so they asked me to come out and do a little bit of a tease. And I spun the coin around. So here’s the coin, two sides to it, equally weighted, if people are asking.”

Initially, the plan for Sankey was to throw the coin up and let it land. This would eliminate any kind of conspiracy with him catching the coin and possibly flipping to one team in his hand. But a change had to be made due to conditions.

“I was an advocate for flip it and let it land,” Sankey said. “And since I was traveling, our staff told me the coin was bouncing. Like, our options for a floor weren’t great, and so the decision was made that I would catch the coin and then put it on the back of my palm.”

And then one thing not considered was lights needed for television. Sankey was worried about losing the coin in them, potentially messing up the process. Thankfully, he executed the move to perfection and there were no goofs.

“Well, staring into the lights, like, I didn’t want to put my sunglasses on so I didn’t lose the coin in the lights. And then we learned the camera angle, when you catch it and show it, you had to, like, hold it. So, I don’t know fully what’s out there on social media. We actually had to make sure that you could see things and could show them, and that I could catch and flip the coin properly.”

Two hours of practice went into flipping the coin, backup plan revealed

Sankey mentioned there were two hours of practice in there, revealing most of the time was in meetings. There was some practice flips to get the motion down but the SEC Network crew were ready just in case the coin fell to the ground.

“Most of those two hours were spent here working on some meeting stuff that we have in a couple weeks,” Sankey said. “Then, after I practiced, they put microphones on me, I had a sport coat on, they put an earpiece thing with a phone. And so I’m wondering, like, is this going to limit my actual ability to flip the coin?

“And then I said to Herb Vincent again, who’s my wingman yesterday, I’m like ‘Herb, if I drop the thing, we’re going to do this all over again,’ which I told Alyssa. But I’m not going to be like chasing around for a coin. So we had a backup ready to go.”

Greg Sankey addresses jokes from Texas head coach Vic Schafer

Shortly after Texas lost, head coach Vic Schafer questioned why Sankey needed two hours of practice. He joked about how the SEC commissioner was hoping for the coin to land on South Carolina’s side, going on a bit of a postgame rant. Laughter ensued from the media in attendance.

Well, Sankey addressed those jokes indirectly.

“There were two sides to the coin, and it was left to me in our commissioner’s regulation to a coin flip, and you know I put it up there, and if you notice, I don’t look at the coin, which is hard to catch, flip, hold, and show without looking at the coin, but the reveal, was told to me in my ear by Alyssa,” Sankey said. “I actually couldn’t see whose logo came up on the back of my hand.”

Either way, South Carolina will be the one-seed in Greenville while Texas is the two-seed. Both will get their SEC Tournaments underway on Friday, awaiting their opponents with a double-bye.

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