Nick Saban hopes to bring 'meaningful change' to college football after retirement

Nick Saban is done running a college football program, retiring from Alabama’s head coaching position earlier this year. But the legendary figure in the sport isn’t going to be an idle one during the twilight of his run in the sport.

While he’s not interested in taking on any positions of outright power, Saban does want to be an agent of “meaningful change” in the sport, he told ESPN’s Chris Low recently. And Saban, who was first a college head coach at Toledo in the 1990s, decried how the college game has slid into a more professional space.

“What we have now is not college football — not college football as we know it,” Saban said. “You hear somebody use the word ‘student-athlete.’ That doesn’t exist.”

Evidently, Saban is not in love with the way money and business have come to dominate so many decisions around the sport, particularly for individual players.

And it has Saban ready to lend a hand wherever he might be able to help preserve college football as he loves it.

“If my voice can bring about some meaningful change, I want to help any way I can, because I love the players, and I love college football,” Saban said.

Saban isn’t looking to run the sport, though

Saban is widely regarded as the greatest coach in college football history, and he would be a natural choice to guide the way as the sport continues to change.

With that said, he doesn’t seem very interested in the potential position, at least not yet.

“I’m not really looking for a job, but I do know I’d like to impact college football the best way I can, whether it’s being a spokesperson or anything else,” Nick Saban told ESPN.

As things stand, college football players can sign NIL deals, receive money and then transfer whenever they would like without penalty. There seems to be an agreement with college football coaches, and even agent Drew Rosenhaus, that there needs to be some kind of agreement that is fair for everyone.

Saban would like to see some changes come to the sport that he believes would benefit athletes and schools.

“Listen, I’m for the players. It’s not that I’m not for the players. I want to see the players have a great quality of life and be able to create value for themselves,” Nick Saban said. “But we’ve gone to nobody talking about education, nobody talking about creating value for their future, to talking only about how much money can I make while I’m in college.

“I think the consequence of this could come down the road when some of these guys get 28 and 29 years old that maybe they didn’t prepare themselves for when they can’t play football anymore, which is what you should do when you go to college.”