While the SEC has skyrocketed in the past decade, the Pac-12 is largely an afterthought among the Power 5 conferences these days.

That’s thanks in part to the hard work of SEC commissioners Mike Slive and Greg Sankey, with Sankey currently leading the conference.

Alabama AD Greg Byrne, who used to serve in the same position at Arizona, said during a radio appearance this week that Sankey’s willingness to take constructive criticism is a big reason why the SEC is so successful and the Pac-12 is not (via OregonLive.com):

“There were a couple of us about five or six years ago that were concerned with the financial model we were creating within the Pac-12,” Byrne told radio station KCUB-AM. “We constructively tried to ask some questions. …

“Us, the ADs, we’re on the ground every day dealing with our 500-plus student athletes, our 20 sports or whatever you have at an institution, the fans. It’s one of the things I love about doing what I do. I get to talk to a lot of different types of fans. The folks who are sitting in the 50-yard line skyboxes and the folks who are scraping every dime together to come to a game. We need to be cognizant of those folks, of the student body, our faculty — all those things.

“And when we would raise questions, it was challenging because there wasn’t a lot of concern with what we had to say. That was frustrating. I feel very fortunate in the Southeastern Conference. Our commissioner, Greg Sankey, is awesome. He is very collaborative in what we do.”

To be fair, Byrne has a lot more power as the Alabama AD than he did as the Arizona AD, but his comments are still pretty revealing.

Perhaps the Pac-12 should start listening to its member schools more often.