Nick Saban shocked the college football world with his sudden and unexpected decision to retire from coaching.
At 72-years-old, it’s not like Saban is some spring chicken or anything, but his decision is one that virtually no one saw coming.
Despite what he may say publicly, it’s clear as day that the new Wild Wild West world of college football played an extremely large part in his decision to step away.
Nick Saban on why he decided to retire
Thank You For Everything 🐐❤️pic.twitter.com/YuiXdJ6BBV
— Alabama DieHards (@DiehardsAlabama) January 11, 2024
Despite his retirement from coaching, we’ll still be getting plenty of Saban in our lives thanks to his decision to join ESPN’s College Gameday, which should be great.
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban opens up about his new gig with College Gameday 🐘🐘🐘 pic.twitter.com/BHjDEI093m
— WVTM 13 (@WVTM13) February 20, 2024
He also made it clear that he wants to use his influence to help fix the troubling issues surrounding college football.
As we know, there is an urgent need for certain guardrails to be put in place … Saban wants to help in that process.
“If my voice can bring about some meaningful change, I want to help any way I can, because I love the players, and I love college football,” Saban told ESPN.
“What we have now is not college football – not college football as we know it. You hear somebody use the word ‘student-athlete.’ That doesn’t exist.”
"That doesn't exist."
Nick Saban has some very sobering thoughts about the state of college football.
He's sounding the warning siren.
DETAILS: https://t.co/zSB4pwPXl0 pic.twitter.com/aUz0vb4crz
— OutKick (@Outkick) February 22, 2024
Throughout his coaching career, Saban has seen it all. Winner of six national championships, he spent his final years navigating through the growing complexities of NIL and the transfer portal.
To be clear, Saban is all for players getting paid for their hard work and all the value they bring to their universities. No one is arguing that players shouldn’t be compensated. However, Saban feels that the current system as it’s structured is fatally flawed and must be fixed.
“Listen, I’m for the players. It’s not that I’m not for the players. I want to see the players have a great quality of life and be able to create value for themselves. But we’ve gone to nobody talking about education, nobody talking about creating value for their future, to talking only about how much money can I make while I’m in college,” he said.
“I think the consequence of this could come down the road when some of these guys get 28 and 29 years old that maybe they didn’t prepare themselves for when they can’t play football anymore, which is what you should do when you go to college.”
I’ve always admired Nick Saban. This is the most common sense thing I’ve heard about the NIL environment. What a great way to cement his legacy in college football if he could bring order to this mess. https://t.co/aAZipCuFE3
— Bob Everitt (@bob_everitt) February 22, 2024
Saban elaborated on a possible suggestion to ESPN…
“People can give money to the university again and get a tax deduction for doing it, and the university in some kind of way shares, whether it’s share revenue, whether it’s buying marketing rights, which is a possibility,” he said.
“You can buy somebody’s marketing rights as an institution, and I don’t want to say cap because that sounds like a salary cap, but find a way for schools to invest the same amount of money in players, just like everybody can invest the same amount in a scholarship. This becomes a part of the scholarship.”
He did make it clear that for all of this to work, there needs to be a commitment from the players’ side.
“Just like an NFL player has a contract or a coach has a contract, something in place so you don’t have all this raiding of rosters and mass movement,” he said. “I wonder what fans are going to say when they don’t even know the team from year to year because there’s no development of teams, just bringing in new players every year.”
The transfer portal and NIL money are the worst things to happen to College Football. Paying the players was a good idea but it has just gotten way out of hand and did ruining it. https://t.co/a3MjIL2igX
— Andrew (@andrew_cottrell) February 22, 2024
There is speculation that Saban could become a new “College Football Commissioner.” … However, he downplayed that possibility (for now).
“I’m not really looking for a job, but I do know I’d like to impact college football the best way I can, whether it’s being a spokesperson or anything else,” Saban told ESPN.
I believe Nick Saban is going to do a lot of good for the sport in retirement. I know I’m beating a dead horse with another tweet about how much I hate CFP expansion, the current NIL structure, and immediate eligibility transfers, but the suits are ruining the sport I love. https://t.co/W03PrEmwHH
— Chris Allen (@chrisjohnallen) February 22, 2024
Not everyone loves Saban. That’s always been clear … However, he has college football’s best interest at heart, and you have to respect that.
His replacement at Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, certainly does…
“Nobody can say it’s about him or his team now,” DeBoer said. “He wants to see the game move in the right direction. We need that, and if he can help make that happen, he will leave another legacy that might not go above what he’s accomplished on the field but will be far-reaching for everybody in our sport.”
Nick Saban on his first impression of Alabama’s new head coach Kalen DeBoer 👀
🎥 via: @WBRCnews pic.twitter.com/1A8Sb9tyMm
— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) February 20, 2024
Speaking of DeBoer – How do you think he will do with the Tide? Clearly, he has very large shoes to fill … Is he up for the challenge?
As for Saban, what are your thoughts on his eagerness to help fix the structure of NIL and the transfer portal?
What would be your suggestion(s)? … How would you fix it???