Longtime SEC Executive, Tuscaloosa Native Mark Womack Dead At 70

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference has announced that Mark Womack, a Tuscaloosa native and executive associate commissioner of the SEC who spent nearly half a century on the league staff, died Monday.

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He was 70 years old.

Womack served the SEC for 47 years in roles that touched nearly every facet of the league’s operation, including chief financial officer, liaison to athletics directors and the longtime architect of football scheduling.

He also worked closely with the conference’s bowl and television partners while overseeing general administration of SEC football and the league office.

“Mark Womack dedicated nearly five decades of his life to the universities of the Southeastern Conference,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement on Tuesday. “The SEC was his passion. During his career he played a key role in many of the league’s most pivotal decisions that contributed significantly to the long-term success of the SEC. Mark had many friends across the world of college athletics and was deeply respected for his ability to build strong relationships, navigate complex challenges, and communicate with strength, trust and empathy. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark’s family and friends during this time.”

Born in Scottsboro on Jan. 12, 1955, and raised in Tuscaloosa, Womack joined the SEC office in 1978 as assistant public relations director under Scoop Hudgins.

He became assistant to the commissioner for administration and information in 1979, was promoted to assistant commissioner in 1981 and to associate commissioner in 1988.

Womack earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Alabama in 1978.

During Womack’s tenure, SEC teams claimed 20 national championships in football and the conference experienced sweeping growth.

The SEC expanded from 10 to 12 members in 1991 with Arkansas and South Carolina, to 14 in 2012 with Missouri and Texas A&M, and to 16 in 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma joined.

Womack also helped develop the SEC Football Championship Game, first played in 1992 — the first conference title game of its kind in Division I.

Womack twice served as acting commissioner — in 1986 before the hiring of Harvey Schiller and again in 1989 before Roy Kramer was named commissioner — and worked alongside five of the SEC’s eight commissioners, including H. Boyd McWhorter, Schiller, Kramer, Mike Slive and Sankey.

He was honored in 2023 by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame as its Distinguished American Sportsman of the Year.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Billy Mack and Mable Carter Womack, and a brother, Tommy Womack.

Womack is survived by his son, John David Womack, and his wife, Stephanie, whom he married in 1994.

Funeral arrangements have not been made public at this time.

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