Nick Saban clarifies controversial comments on Jimbo Fisher, Deion Sanders

Last offseason, Alabama head coach Nick Saban made headlines for some charged comments he made about Texas A&M head coach and current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders regarding the involvement of NIL in their recruiting practices. Saban recently joined Stephen A. Smith on the Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith and spoke about his comments from last May.

“I would say the point I was making was, is I was not saying that anybody was doing anything wrong, my question was is this what we want college football to become?” Saban asked. “And it’s what it’s become, so did I not tell the truth? I shouldn’t have singled anybody out, I said that, but that’s what it’s become.”

Saban’s overall stance on NIL as it relates to recruiting still seems unchanged despite regretting singling out two of college football’s most notable coaches, showing favor toward a more structured, professional sports type of model when paying collegiate athletes.

“Now we have guys making all this money going to different schools and maybe that’s all good, if that’s what we want college football to be then the best teams are going to be the team’s that have the most money to spend on. We don’t have a salary cap so it’s not equal for everybody, it’s not like the NFL, I would much rather see us adopt the NFL model than be what we are right now,” Saban said. “Pay the players and they can become employees, which a lot of people in college that’s not the sort of what college football or amateur sports are supposed to be.”

Saban continued, “but I’d rather see that than to be where we are now where no one has a contract, you can leave whenever you want, and we can actually create an institution that can pay you to play for our school. And I asked the question then and I’ll ask you now, is that what we want college football to become.”

Saban also talked big picture, as many get lost in the NIL impact on college football and basketball and lose sight of the many other collegiate sports that exist. As Saban showed concern for athletes and teams that may get put in the shadows in regards to paying college athletes.

“The other consequence of this is we have 21 sports here now, I don’t think anybody looks at the big picture, and a lot of those sports are non-revenue producing sports. So the revenue-producing sports actually create these opportunities for a lot of people to get an education and to have an opportunity to compete at the college level,” Saban said.

It seems like Saban isn’t the most optimistic about the future landscape of collegiate athletics as it relates to NIL, and only time will tell how not just college football, but other sports are impacted in the future.

“And there’s only so much money to go around, so if we’re going to pay players than there’s going to be less, maybe, opportunities for people that play sports that don’t create revenue,” Saban said. “So I hope that never happens, but I don’t think there’s unlimited resources to be able to do the things that maybe some people may think we can do.”