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Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work, diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory.

Where does one start when talking about veteran athletics communicator Herb Vincent?

Herb has built a reputation as a leader and as a friend to anyone who crosses his path.

You know, he was at LSU for so long and then, you know, had two different stints with the SEC and people respected him and they did that across the league.

He's always ahead of them, ahead of the curve or the head of the ball.

There is a guy that understands what's going to attract people to the to the sport.

For herb, a professional approach to the task at hand was always prominent.

Herb Vincent is director of Southeastern Conference Communications.

He's certainly been on the scene at LSU on and off for many, many years.

And I want to read before we talk to her the definition of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award.

It's presented to an individual who has played a decisive role as a sports leader or administrator, benefiting Louisiana and or bringing credit to Louisiana or national and international levels.

That's quite the, definition.

What's it like, a day in the life of Herb Vincent?

In the ever present world of college sports and the SEC, without question, and not being prejudicial, but but the premier, college sports league.

Yeah.

I get asked sometimes, especially by young people who were interviewing for jobs or trying to find their way into careers.

What's your average day like?

There is no average day, and that's what I like about it.

Every day is different.

Every day in the sports world is different.

You never know what challenges are going to come.

You kind of you try to plan for your day, but you don't know what obstacles are going to come up, what challenges, what opportunities.

So every day is different.

As a student at LSU, he became the right hand man of legendary sports information director Paul Manassa.

He was the one of the first people, and really the only person that my dad ever let work in the sports promotion department as a freshman.

So there was something that my dad spotted that was special about herb.

Herb was probably a step ahead of everybody else.

So he was a just a no nonsense guy.

But he worked hard every day.

He got to work early every day, stay late every day.

Just came and did his job every day in my fall and told me the same thing.

Just go do your job and do the best you can.

And it's that day in and day out work.

Of of just getting the job done that I think eventually pays off.

I'll tell you what, I was incredibly excited and proud when Kit Lowe was inducted into the Hall of Fame, because he's a guy who just goes to work every day.

He got rewarded for doing his job and doing the best he could every day, and that really pleased me to see that kind of work ethic rewarded.

After college, he learned to navigate the rise and fall of sports teams.

In the mid 1980s, while working with the New Orleans Breakers and later the Los Angeles Express of the USFL.

The USFL, which he was working in in professional football, had just folded up and he basically was looking for someplace to land.

And we happened to have a job opening.

And I said, this is great.

Now, I knew all along that this was a very much a short term thing.

And McDonald was right.

Herb's career would soon land him at his alma mater, LSU.

He knew he could be successful here.

He knew what the message should put out there.

What I'm bringing need to be how else you need to look here?

Vince was one of the best guys I've ever hired.

My lucky.

What a guy.

He was so good at everything that he worked.

Did things for the university and he did things for the athletic department.

Did things for me personally.

In 2013, the league office came calling.

He currently serves as Associate Commissioner of Communications for the SEC.

You know, your career has taken you to LSU a couple of times in some very responsible roles.

Assistant sports information director at UL, USFL communications.

On a couple of levels in Los Angeles and New Orleans.

You've helped with a regional sports, television network in your career.

Did all of those blend to bring you where you are now in terms of job knowledge, or was there one specific there was a little more emphasis than the others.

They all they all came together.

But I always tell people that the biggest, professional developed development time of my life was the two years I spent in the Southeastern Conference office in the 1980s.

It was 1986, 87, I believe.

We only had ten teams there.

But I was young.

I was still learning the business, and I was able to see what every school did.

Well.

And then eventually wanted to LSU.

I took those things.

I was able to see what Bud Ford did well at Tennessee, what Kleinfeld and did well at Georgia.

I looked around the league and I'll learn from those people.

I tried to be a sponge and try to act like I didn't know everything.

I'm trying to learn and learn from them.

And even after I got to LSU, I develop relationships within that time of the SEC where I was able to call those people and get help and get advice.

And so those two years, probably more than any, were the ones that really helped me, propel my career.

You know, let me go back to the the SEC in the early days.

I mean, you worked under Mike's live, right?

Now, I actually worked under Harvey Schiller.

Okay.

And then the first time I was under Harvey Schiller, when I returned to the SEC, it was Mike's live.

Right.

And.

And now, of course, Greg Sankey.

How do you compare those three?

They're all, innovative in their own ways.

You know?

Greg, they were always thinking one step ahead.

All three of them.

I could I can remember, Harvey Schiller talking about the future of soccer.

Is is a popular sport in the world.

Mike Slive obviously was the was the father of the SEC network.

So he was always thinking, thinking ahead of himself.

Greg Sankey is, I think, taking the SEC to an entirely new level.

So this is a these these three guys were always thinking one step ahead, always thinking one step ahead, one step ahead of the competition.

And I think that's what's critical.

And anything that we do in life is always trying to think ahead.

These no doubt are unprecedented times.

And and I'm not saying anything that hundreds of other people, if they're not thousands, have said as we look across the landscape, the changing landscape daily of sports, what challenge does that bring to you as a communicator for the SEC and also the league?

What's the what is the how does the league look at that?

What what what what what are its goals?

What are its responsibilities under this, this new set of laws?

Yeah.

I think the challenge as a communicator in today's world is that when you're, when you're trying to think ahead, when you're trying to anticipate problems, you look back on your experiences.

And this is, as you said, unprecedented times.

So you can't look back on a lot of things right now.

On how college sports has been, how people react to it.

There's so many new facets to college sports now.

So that's that's the challenge.

That's the part of the daily change.

You have to be able to adapt.

You always have to be able to change.

You know, college sports is so centered around tradition, and that's one of the great, foundations of college sports.

I think it's what brings fans to the games, the tradition to be able to do things.

You always hear the same bands, songs, you see the same colors.

But in the midst of all that tradition, you have to be prepared for change each and every day.

And I think that's the biggest challenge.

Herb has built a reputation as a leader and as a friend to anyone who crosses his path.

Navigating the good times and bad in sports and always coming out an innovator.

Herb Vincent's not only, a stupendous, colleague, but he's a dear friend.

And I respect anything that herb says.

His background is is deeply seeded in LSU.

There's nobody that has more respect in the circles that he's, you know, lives in than her.

Vincent.

And he never has misled any media.

He's never misled anybody in anything he has ever done.

He's probably the best that I've ever dealt with at any level, both at the collegiate level, at the professional level, he just has a tremendous way to to deal with people.

In 2025, herb was honored by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award.

Would this be a fair statement?

Have we known each other a long time?

And I've observed your work that I've admired for decades, but would it be a fair statement that Herb Vincent in a group of people is first a listener and then a reactor?

I think that's true.

I hope that's true because I think that's important is to listen and not try to always be ahead of everybody else in your thinking.

Sometimes it's best to to hear what everybody else is thinking.

It's best to understand the lay of the land.

It's best to understand, and really think through issues, to slow down a minute and think things through.

There's the there's the inclination to just react.

And, that's not always the best thing at the time.

You know, I've also heard sportswriters from all over the country, some antagonistic, some not, but who admire the way you are able to understand their jobs, understand your responsibilities for your employer, and somehow meld the two where you are helping them do their jobs, which is part of your job, and yet you also are protecting your employer.

And that's so important.

And it's a skill that is very difficult to accomplish.

And I think you have certainly bridge that gap with with so many people.

Well, I'm fortunate that I was around.

I've been around a lot of really great sports journalists in my life, and sportswriters, and I can see the challenges they had and what they did.

Being in the press box before and after game, you see them work, you see what they need, you see how they react.

At the same time, you might in the daytime and the, the Monday through Friday, I'm working more in a, I guess, business setting.

So I'm working with my bosses.

I'm working in, in a different element than the sports world.

So I think, I think just the fact that that you're working Monday through Friday in kind of one world and you're working nights and weekends in another world, you have to be able to bring those two together.

Let's wrap up with a couple of rapid fire questions when, if ever, will the SEC, expand?

I can't answer that question because we're in such a time of change.

That's what the commissioner likes to say.

That's on the back burner.

And the burner is not on right now.

And so that's not something that we're looking at.

Okay.

And will there be in the relatively near future a change in the format of the College Football Playoff?

I think that's for discussion right now.

You know, it could be 12, could be 14, could be 16.

The format right now is 12.

We've only had one year of it.

I think there's a lot of facets that go in there.

Do you go to 14?

Do you go to 16 to talk about how many conference games you explained or another against other conferences?

So there's so many things that have to fall into place and they will we'll get there and it's going to be great.

And every year when we get to December, people could forget about all the discussion about how we got there.

And they go to the games, they enjoy college football, so we'll be okay.

I want to suggest one thing as we wrap up here.

In my opinion, everybody, as a young man or woman who wants to get into the business should be required to go spend six months with you and just observe and see how it's done.

Right.

That's why you're the, the winner of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

In.