Saban prepares to speak up for ‘significant modification’

• Chris Low, ESPN Elder WriterFeb 21, 2024, 08:13 PM ET

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  • College football reporter
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.– Nick Saban is retired from coaching, but he emphasized Wednesday that he isn’t retired from doing his part to assist bring some reform, uniformity and “common sense” to college football and the lingering mayhem surrounding the sport.

“If my voice can cause some significant change, I wish to help any way I can, because I like the players, and I enjoy college football,” Saban told ESPN. “What we have now is not college football– not college football as we know it. You hear somebody utilize the word ‘student-athlete.’ That doesn’t exist.”

Saban, 72, retired in January after winning six championship games in 17 seasons at Alabama and another at LSU in 2003. He now inhabits an office surrounding to the south end line of Bryant-Denny Stadium and works as an advisor to the university. He also will function as a college football and NFL draft expert for ESPN.While still

coaching at Alabama, Saban stated, he understood that any review he made from the current NIL environment integrated with the transfer website– in specific the absence of rules on representatives searching players in the website and schools bidding on high school players through donor-based collectives– might discover as self-serving. But now that he is no longer coaching, Saban prepares to take an even more powerful stance.Editor’s Picks

2 Associated In reality, some coaches have actually

suggested that Saban would be a perfect option as college football commissioner if such a position is ever created. “I’m not really looking for a job, but I do know I ‘d like to effect college football the best method I can, whether it’s being a spokesperson or anything else,”Saban stated.”Listen, I’m for the players. It’s not that I’m not for the players. I want to see the players have an excellent quality of life and be able to create value for themselves. But we’ve gone to nobody talking about education, no one discussing producing worth for their future, to talking just about just how much money can I make while I’m in college.”I think the effect of this could come down the roadway when a few of these guys get 28 and 29 years old that possibly they didn’t prepare themselves for when they can’t play football any longer, which is what you ought to do when you go to college. “As much as anything, Saban said, he wants to see some reasonable dialogue about how to assist college football start relocating the direction

of solutions before the current design entirely implodes, and he doesn’t desire the circumstance to get to a point where schools have to start cutting other sports.One of the trickier concerns is how to best compensate players, and Saban restated that he’s for players generating income based on their name, image and similarity once they get on

campus.”But what you have now isn’t name, image and likeness. A collective has nothing to do with name, image and similarity,”Saban said.Saban said he wants to see any player payment model that is developed to be brought in-house at the various schools and eliminated from donor-based collectives. Obviously, then there might be Title IX issues.

“People can give cash to the university again and get a tax reduction for doing it, and the university in some kind of way shares, whether it’s share earnings, whether it’s purchasing marketing rights, which is a possibility, “Saban recommended.”You can purchase someone’s marketing rights as an institution, and I do not want to state cap because that sounds like a wage cap, but discover a method for schools to invest the very same amount of money in players, just like everyone can invest the exact same amount in a scholarship. This ends up being a part of the scholarship.”And while Saban wants to see players get their share of the financial pie, he stated the only way any of this works is if there’s also a dedication on the players’side.”Just like an NFL player has a contract or a coach has an agreement, something in location so you do not have all this raiding of lineups and mass motion, “he said.”I wonder what fans are going to say

when they do not even understand the team from year to year because there’s no advancement of teams, simply bringing in new players every year.”Saban said he is not nearly too versed on the legality of everything as such individuals as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey or Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. “They would be more qualified [to serve in a college football commissioner’s function] than I am. They’re in it every day and understand all the problems,”Saban said.”That’s why I’m hesitant to come up with a company solution because you

don’t know the repercussions of the service relative to,’ All right, do we need to pass antitrust laws to be able to do it in this manner? What does it all require?'” It’s one thing to come up with a service. It’s another thing to execute it. I’m just here to assist.”The guy changing Saban at Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, stated Wednesday that college football requires Saban more than ever previously, especially now that Saban is outside the training ranks.”Nobody can say it has to do with him or his team now,”DeBoer said. “He wants to see the

game relocation in the best direction. We need that, and if he can assist make that happen, he will leave another legacy that may not go above what he’s accomplished on the field however will be

far-reaching for everyone in our sport.”