SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey Lays Out Vision at SEC Media Days 2015

The Southeastern Conference ushered in a new era with commissioner Greg Sankey's debut at SEC Media Days 2015.

For the first time since 1990, a person named Mike Slive or Roy Kramer represented the conference behind the podium. As he welcomed media to the annual event, Sankey made it clear that he'll bring a new look and a unique vision to his post. He

Before he laid out his plan for the conference, the 50-year-old made it apparent that he's a perfect fit for a changing landscape of college athletics. This is a man that used Bob Dylan's classic 'Times They are a-Changin' song to describe the current environment and quickly followed that with an update on his Twitter handle and profile picture.

But Sankey quickly shifted his attention to his plan for the conference as he takes over. First and foremost were three words: scholars, champions, and leaders.

"For the word scholars, we want to graduate every student-athlete," Sankey explained. "For champions, we want to win every championship. But you may have assumed that already. And for leaders, we seek literally to influence the world. Many of you may react by saying that's simply not possible. But keep this in mind, there is no great achievement that was ever produced by an attempt to be average, and we seek to be excellent. We also seek to graduate every student- athlete by developing a college going culture in our states, throughout our region and across this country."

Sankey said part of prioritizing leadership off the field is keeping the conference out of trouble with the NCAA.

"While we may not win them all, we will aspire to achieve that goal, and we will do so with our heads held high," Sankey said. "As with scholars, we have a set of expectations and a foundation from which we desire to launch to achieve those goals. The first under champions is a bit counterintuitive, but it's central to how we've been led over the last 13 years, and that is to never return a championship, never pull down a championship banner, never vacate any wins, and never have a team banned from postseason competition due to NCAA infractions or the lack of academic success under the NCAA's academic performance program."

You can watch Sankey's entire opening statement above.