Nick Saban doubles down on questioning need for President Donald Trump's college sports commission

Nick Saban has already met in-person with fellow presidential commission co-chair Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger. Nevertheless, the former Alabama head coach and current ESPN College GameDay analyst still isn’t exactly sold on the need for President Donald Trump‘s planned commission on college sports.

“I know there’s been a lot of stuff out there about some commission or whatever. I don’t think we need a commission. I’ve said that before,” Saban said Tuesday ahead of his annual Nick’s Kids golf tournament in Birmingham, according to CBS Sports’ Mike Rodak. “I think we need — we know what the issues are, we just have to have people who are willing to move those and solve those and create some solutions for some of those issues. I’m all for being a consultant to anybody who would think that my experience would be beneficial to helping create some of those solutions.

“I know President Trump is very interested in athletics. He’s very interested in college athletics,” Saban continued, per Rodak. “He’s very interested in maintaining the idea that people go to college to create value for the future in terms of how they develop as people, students, graduation rate as well as having a balanced, competitive playing field. If I can be a consultant to anyone who might be able to help the future of college athletics, I would be more than happy to do that.”

Saban has been tabbed by Trump to headline his presidential commission. Per past reporting, it is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts,” according to Yahoo! Sports.

While the makeup of the commission is still developing, White House leaders have already begun “pooling recommendations” from those within the Power Four conferences, NCAA and athlete-focused groups for potential committee membership, according to Dellenger. The working group is expected to be limited to 10 or fewer members, with “a goal of political and cultural diversity,” per Dellenger.

Nick Saban ‘not sure we really need’ President Donald Trump’s commission on college sports

Of course, this isn’t the first time Saban has called Trump’s Presidential commission into question. He previously raised doubts during a recent appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.

“First of all, I don’t know a lot about the commission. Secondly, I’m not sure we really need a commission,” Saban said last week on the SEC Network. “I think that a lot of people know exactly what the issues are in college football and exactly what we need to do to fix them. The key to the drill is getting people together so we can move it forward.

“I’m not opposed to players making money, I don’t want anybody to think that. I just think the system that we (are using), the way it’s going right now is not sustainable, and probably not in the best interest of the student-athletes across the board or the game itself,” Saban continued. “I think we need to protect the brand, and the competitive advantages and disadvantages that are being created right now, and I think we can fix all that. But I think we know how to do it, and not just me but a lot of people, we just have to get everybody together to do it.”