Nick Saban encourages players to use agent, takes shot at pay-for-play

Nick Saban wants to be very clear: He wants his players to make NIL money. It’s a point he’s been quick to bring up whenever the subject is broached, and the Alabama head coach also wants his players to get good representation.

Discussing the topic with ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith on the “Know Mercy” podcast, Saban expanded upon the point.

“No, we encourage our players to have an agent,” Saban said. “To represent them for marketing purposes so that they develop opportunities. My issue is we have a collective where we raise money as an institution to create these things where basically we’re paying the guy to play. Does that make sense?”

Saban continued: “I want our guys to have an agent. I want Bryce Young to go to CAA and have an agent, get representation, do Dr. Pepper commercials, I’m all for that. That’s what Name, Image and Likeness was supposed to be. It wasn’t supposed to be me going to give a speech to raise money from alumni so we could get enough money in our collective so we could pay players. That’s not what it was supposed to be. Now who is to blame for that? Coaches. We did it.”

Smith asked Saban the natural follow: Why is it the coaches are to blame?

Saban argued that it was in part because certain people and institutions saw NIL and using collectives as a way to improve on-field success. He circled back to discussing agents again, too, pointing out that they provide a firewall between players and bad actors.

“And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it relative to a rule or a law or whatever, because every state has a different law, so it’s not the same for everyone. So now you get this, ‘OK, you come to our school and you’ll get this much.’ And my issue is agents in the NFL are licensed, they’re qualified, they’re regulated by the NFLPA — we’ve got none of that in college,” Saban said. “You can have any guy on the street calling people, telling them they should do this, or that. That really may or may not be qualified to be making those kind of decisions, or be the best people to create a market for a player.”