Nick Saban on coming changes to college sports: 'We can't change the spirit'

As college athletics moves closer to a new model that incorporates player compensation, one man whose opinion should be taken very seriously has weighed in on what those changes should look like. Nick Saban has seen a thing or two.

And to his eye, the sport is teetering dangerously close to a solution that doesn’t keep the primary mission of college athletics in mind.

“I think that whatever system we come up with, we can’t change the spirit,” Saban said Monday on the Paul Finebaum Show. “Because right now we have changed the spirit, to some degree. Don’t hear people talking about education.”

The recent changes that have allowed athletes to collect off their name, image and likeness (NIL) are a real positive to Saban. But he doesn’t want some of the other awesome bonuses of college athletics to fall by the wayside.

Many of the recent changes in college sports could have a net negative effect, especially on graduation outcomes.

“When people transfer all the time that doesn’t enhance their chances of graduating,” Nick Saban said. “And more and more people are going to college not to see how much value they can create for their future but how much they actually can make in their college career.

“I’m all for guys making money, but I think it’s got to be distributed in a way that’s fair and creates a competitive venue that’s fair for everybody.”

However the powers that be decide to organize things in the coming months and years will be of the utmost importance. It will determine whether this current stretch is a blip on the path to a brighter future for college sports or more of an inflection point that changes them for good.

That’s where Nick Saban believes the focus needs to be on the primary mission.

“I think the spirit of college football has always been to help players have a chance to be more successful in life because of the lessons you teach, where coaches are teachers, teachers are inspiring learning so that they can develop the right habits so that they have a better chance to be successful in life,” he said.