MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The SEC’s annual meetings began Tuesday with the future size of college football’s postseason on the docket.Should it expand to 16 or 24, or stay at 12?The conference’s coaches have not reached consensus on what they prefer. Or, at least, they were unwilling to show their cards until they huddle and offer a recommendation to the league’s athletic directors and presidents also meeting on the issue this week.Eight of the SEC’s 16 coaches met with reporters Tuesday morning, but only one, Florida’s Jon Sumrall, voiced active support for a 24-team model.“When we were at four I didn’t want to leave four,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, whose 9-3 Longhorns narrowly missed the field a season ago. “We have to think of the unintended consequences.”Later on Tuesday, representatives from the College Football Playoff met with the SEC’s coaches and athletic directors in a meeting focused on the current format that was scheduled for 90 minutes but ran longer than two hours.According to a person familiar with the discussions, multiple coaches were frustrated with the lack of clarity as to how a two-loss team compared to a three-loss team and how schedules from leagues like the Big 12 or ACC would be compared to schedules from the SEC.Much of that concern stemmed from the SEC’s decision to move from eight conference games to nine games and how teams who played tougher schedules would be compared to those with lesser schedules.Coaches also voiced concerns about the composition of the committee, with some calling for more coaches to have seats on the committee in place of athletic directors.Coaches were uncertain how they would be assessed in the metrics used by the committee to construct its weekly top 25 rankings and sought more clarity on what they could do strategically on the field or in nonconference scheduling to be viewed more favorably by the committee’s metrics, which are not made available to the public.On the topic of expansion to a 24-team CFP, which league leaders are not expected to dig into the finer details of until June, multiple coaches put the differing opinions around the conference on the record during their time with reporters.“I think you could make an argument for all of (the models),” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said, adding his only concern is making sure the sport’s best teams are included.Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz rolled out his plan for a 30-team Playoff a year ago, but that was a vision largely tied to play-in games at the conference level. The most likely format for a 24-team Playoff would be the 23 highest ranked teams by the CFP selection committee, plus the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.“I was ahead of my time,” Drinkwitz said. “But like most guys that are ahead of their time, the people who jump on got all the details wrong.”DeBoer said it’s difficult for the SEC coaches to have a consensus position on CFP expansion because there are four new coaches in the league. Will Stein of Kentucky, Ryan Silverfield of Arkansas, Golesh and Sumrall were all hired from outside the conference just months ago and have yet to coach a game.Plus, 24 is still a relatively new concept.“I think we talked more in the 12 and 16 before. Now more discussion of 24 is the way I perceive it,” DeBoer said. “I think we had a little bit of conversation about that in our … winter meetings.”Georgia coach Kirby Smart wants the conference to find some common ground by the end of the week and offer up the league’s stance after wrestling with the debate behind closed doors.“Everybody’s not in agreement of what’s best for their program,” he said. “As long as we acknowledge differences and can give an opinion as a league and say this is our stance, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. … We don’t make the decision. We merely have a point of view and we try to share that with rules makers for what we think is best. It’s natural. All human nature is self-preservation, and people make decisions based on what gives them the best opportunity to have success.”Sumrall was the only coach who specifically advocated for a 24-team field on Tuesday ahead of the coaches’ meetings, joining Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, who did not meet with reporters Tuesday but has spoken on the issue this spring.“More football is good football,” Sumrall said. “A lot of people say it’ll water it down or whatever. I’m like, I think people will still watch. I’ve got a pretty good hunch on that.”Commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday he told leaders across the conference to enter meetings this week not tied to a number but willing to embrace due diligence to assess the possibilities ahead, fully understanding each option before electing to support one.Among major conferences, the SEC is the only league yet to offer public support for a 24-team model. Both the Big Ten and SEC must agree to any changes to the Playoff format. Without consensus, the event will continue with the 12-team status quo.If the league emerges from its annual meetings at the Sandestin Hilton this week in support of a 24-team model, the only question remaining is how quickly the 24-team CFP would take effect. It could arrive as soon as the 2027 season; the commissioners have until Dec. 1 to notify ESPN of changes to the next year’s format.Expanding to a 24-team Playoff would bring about the end of conference championship games. Smart and Sumrall shared memories of the earliest SEC Championship Games at Legion Field in Birmingham, where the first two games were played in 1992 and 1993.Sumrall acknowledged that conference championships still matter, though the game itself may not fit in a world with a 24-team Playoff.“I think you’d have to accept it, but I’m really more worried about the financial burden that we’re under right now of paying for all of the athletic department,” Smart said. “When you take that revenue stream out, can we make it work? And is it sustainable to do without it, would be my biggest concern.”Sources told The Athletic the SEC title game earns the conference an estimated $100 million annually as part of its 10-year television deal with ESPN that runs through 2034.“The fact you can leave the field with a trophy that says ‘SEC champion’ on it? That is really meaningful to me,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said.Smart said he agreed with Sankey’s belief that football is not a “tournament sport,” but Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, whose team made the Playoff last year as an at-large selection, opposed becoming what he called a “trophy sport.”“When you start talking about, ‘Oh, this team didn’t get in so we have to expand it, then this team didn’t get in so we have to expand it more, then this team,’” said Elko, who was the defensive coordinator on a Texas A&M team in 2020 that finished fifth and narrowly missed the four-team field. “The cool thing about our sport is it has always been a challenge to get into the playoffs. Every year there are good teams that don’t make it whether it was four or 12.”Elko, though, took issue with the exercise of asking coaches their opinion at all. Earlier this month, the American Football Coaches Association released a statement expressing support for maximizing the number of Playoff participants and eliminating conference championship games, which would happen if the 12-team field is doubled.“It doesn’t matter what we think,” Elko said. “None of us are answering for the good of the sport. We’re answering for the good of ourselves. Different conferences want what they want because it’s best for them. Different schools at different levels want what they want. We’ve got to figure out some sort of unified leadership over college football.”A year ago, college football was mired in a similar debate as the Big Ten proposed a 16-team model.For the first time this season, the SEC and most ACC teams are playing nine conference games, aligned with the Big Ten, which began the practice a decade ago.Sumrall, though, said some coaches in the league signed off on an additional conference game believing Playoff expansion would come with it.“When we went to nine and that didn’t happen, some guys maybe felt a little misled or alienated,” he said. “I think a lot of guys would prefer it.”