Nick Saban is being considered to co-chair a proposed presidential commission on college athletics, according to The Athletic. The commission, backed by former President Donald Trump, would pair Saban with Texas Tech board chair and booster Cody Campbell.
The former Alabama coach addressed the report during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show Wednesday.
“It’s not sustainable,” Saban said about the current NIL and transfer system. “Probably not in the best interest of the student-athletes across the board, or the game itself.”
Saban admitted he didn’t “know a lot about the commission” and questioned whether it was necessary, but didn’t rule out his involvement.
NFL analyst Mike Florio criticized Saban’s potential role in a column for Pro Football Talk.
“First, who is Saban to speak on whether anything is in the interests of the players?” Florio wrote. “The players can, and should, speak for themselves.”
Florio also questioned Saban’s use of “we” when discussing pay-for-play.
“Second, when Saban says he doesn’t believe ‘pay for play is necessarily what we want,’ who’s the ‘we’? (It sure as hell ain’t those who would be getting paid to play.)”
While Saban has maintained he retired because of age rather than NIL changes, critics have expressed skepticism about his motives.
“The entire situation sucks for the players,” Florio continued. “And the fix that will be engineered by the federal government will likely harm their broader interests, not help them.”
The potential appointment has raised concerns about whether former coaches and administrators should determine rules for the next generation of players.
Florio argued the commission needs to fairly represent player interests rather than allowing figures like Saban to “claim without opposition or scrutiny what they think the players’ best interests are or should be.”
