SEC Media Days

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey speaks Monday, July 13, 2015, during SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

(JULIE BENNETT)

The SEC's request to block programs such as Michigan from conducting practices during spring break is not about eliminating competitive advantages, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told AL.com.

The SEC asked the NCAA recently to block programs from holding practices during spring break due to time demands on student-athletes. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh announced on National Signing Day the Wolverines would move a week of spring practices to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida during the school's spring break holiday in late February and early March.

"What's unfortunate is people try to reduce this to simply a competitive issue, which it is not," Sankey said.

The NCAA does not prohibit schools from conducting off-site practices during spring break, but Sankey believes the move by Michigan is counter-intuitive to the time-demand concerns discussed by Power 5 conference leaders and student-athletes at the NCAA's annual convention in January.

"That's the national issue and if I'm the only one that is going to speak about it, so be it," Sankey said. "But it is one piece of this conversation that we don't need to further. In addition, we need to understand that it's really clear when people do things -- push the boundaries -- others follow and I think it is all in our collective best interests to say out-of-season sports using, in this case, spring break for practice purposes, is not appropriate."

Harbaugh fired off a tweet Tuesday many believe was in direct response to

on Monday.

"Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive? Just curious."

Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive? Just curious. — Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) February 10, 2016

Sankey does not want to dive into a war of words with Michigan's coach.

"I'm not going to reduce what is an important conversation to some childhood use of Twitter," he said. "This is an important issue."

Three proposals concerning student-athletes' time were presented at the NCAA Convention. The NCAA discussed two surveys, including the Pac-12's study in 2015 which revealed players spent an average of 50 hours per week with their sport. Athletes are allowed a maximum of 20 hours per week to work within his or her sports, according to NCAA rules. They are also allowed a maximum of four weeks off per year, though loosening of rules have allowed more contact with coaches during voluntary workouts in the summer months.

"One way to establish a right answer is say, let's not go any further than we already have," Sankey said. "What's happening is we're going further than we have in the past."

, but Sankey believes he is on the right side of the discussion, especially considering the conversations the 65 institutions had during the meetings nearly led to a vote on the subject.

"That's a commitment and with that as the backdrop I think this is a substantive issue," he said. "The Big Ten is going to recruit Florida. We fully understand that. They should. Other Big Ten schools, other Big 12 schools are going to recruit in the SEC's geographic footprint. That's perfectly fine. This is about saying we're not going to infringe further on the time demands of student-athletes -- the free times and spring break in particular."

Sankey is hopeful the issue is "dealt with in a timely manner," adding that pushing the limits of NCAA rules shouldn't be the focus for schools inside and outside the SEC.

"Do I have expectations of the governing structure?" Sankey said. "No, I've learned not to have expectations in the governing structure. I still believe that the perspective I have offered is the appropriate perspective given where we are now in the time-demand conversation."