Nick Saban wants to be voice for change in college football

[GatorJ]

Saban plans to speak out for 'meaningful change'

Nick Saban said Wednesday he plans to take stronger stances on issues such as NIL and the transfer portal because "what we have now is not college football."

www.espn.com

"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 told ESPN. "What we have now is not college football -- not college football as we know it. You hear somebody use the word 'student-athlete.' That doesn't exist."

And while Saban wants to see players get their share of the financial pie, he said the only way any of this works is if there's also a commitment on the players' side.

"Just like an NFL player has a contract or a coach has a contract, something in place so you don't have all this raiding of rosters and mass movement," he said. "I wonder what fans are going to say when they don't even know the team from year to year because there's no development of teams, just bringing in new players every year."

 

[TheDouglas78]

Though I do not believe his intent is pure, he isn't wrong either. The commitment needs to be on both sides. The NCAA fuched this all up with their heads in the sand hoping it would go away for 30 years.

 

[GatorJ]

Right.

NIL allows players to market themselves. Fine.

But…Universities and boosters aren’t allowed to pay them except through these collectives which are somehow supposed to be separated from the program. And then they get paid for visiting elementary schools, which they would previously have done as a public service.

If that’s even correct.

It is absolutely asinine that the system is structured so that fans pay the players instead of using the millions upon millions of dollars that are already brought in.

Not asinine at all.

If the schools paid the players, Title 9 would kick in. And compliance with that law would (probably) require all the NIL money to put put into a big pot, and every (?scholarship) player in every sport would get the same per capita payout. SuperStars and benchwarmers would get the same.

 

[GatorJ]

I quoted the three replies up above. They were in another thread, but I think that they’re perfect for this thread. It’s exactly what Saban is saying.

 

[GatorJ]

Though I do not believe his intent is pure, he isn't wrong either. The commitment needs to be on both sides. The NCAA fuched this all up with their heads in the sand hoping it would go away for 30 years.

In the article, he says that there were a lot of things he couldn’t come out and say because he was a head coach. People would think that it was self-serving. Obviously one of the reasons that he retired is because of this nonsense. And he could be more effective at saving CFB, if he’s not a head coach.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Who?

 

[soflagator]

I’ll be the voice of reason. There is no solution to the existing problem. You can’t allow collegiate athletes to be paid if you’re not ok with the current state. It’s that simple. It was always going to spiral out of control because that’s the way free markets work. If kids feel they deserve to be paid they should be allowed to declare as professionals and the NFL needs to drop their own rule or develop a farm league so they can do so.

Then allow the kids who truly want to just play sports while getting a free education at a university they love do that. Everyone wins, including the fans.

The NCAA mismanaged a lot and shares some blame. But as I’ve said before, they were basically the Saddam of college athletics. They were hated and rightly so. But they also kept the crazies in check. Now that they’re all but defunct, in some respects they have been vindicated.

 

[78]

Nick is all high and mighty when it comes to someone else's financial gain. Maybe he should be willing to return some of his own riches out of the same principle. I mean, didn't he benefit from, at least indirectly, what led to this all?

 

[AuggieDosta]

Nick is all high and mighty when it comes to someone else's financial gain. Maybe he should be willing to return some of his own riches out of the same principle. I mean, didn't he benefit from, at least indirectly, what led to this all?

This is a stupid take IMO.

Nick, like any coach, made money off his worth/value and off Alabama fanatics willingness to throw money at him and off what Alabama administrators, as a member of the SEC's riches paid out annually, were willing to pay him. Also, his agent successfully bartered for his value and helped to hyper-inflate that value. In short he, and Jimmy Sexton, simply played the game that has been in motion for a long time.

NIL and the transfer portal, are new.

From any interview I've ever heard him speak about these topics, he was against them in general. He now says that he had to tip-toe around the topic and was often vague because of his position as a head coach but can now be free to weigh-in on the topic. I believe him and am interested to hear what he has to say on the topic and I don't see where he is being disingenuous.

If his voice can help to alter this chaos then I wish him luck. However, I doubt much will change until, collectively, the University Admins come to the realization that NIL is pulling donor money away from coffers currently under their purview.

 

[Detroitgator]

I’ll be the voice of reason. There is no solution to the existing problem. You can’t allow collegiate athletes to be paid if you’re not ok with the current state. It’s that simple. It was always going to spiral out of control because that’s the way free markets work. If kids feel they deserve to be paid they should be allowed to declare as professionals and the NFL needs to drop their own rule or develop a farm league so they can do so.

Then allow the kids who truly want to just play sports while getting a free education at a university they love do that. Everyone wins, including the fans.

The NCAA mismanaged a lot and shares some blame. But as I’ve said before, they were basically the Saddam of college athletics. They were hated and rightly so. But they also kept the crazies in check. Now that they’re all but defunct, in some respects they have been vindicated.

Next you'll be saying we should go back to leather helmets and segregated schools!

 

[soflagator]

Next you'll be saying we should go back to leather helmets and segregated schools!

 

[78]

This is a stupid take IMO.

Nick, like any coach, made money off his worth/value and off Alabama fanatics willingness to throw money at him and off what Alabama administrators, as a member of the SEC's riches paid out annually, were willing to pay him. Also, his agent successfully bartered for his value and helped to hyper-inflate that value. In short he, and Jimmy Sexton, simply played the game that has been in motion for a long time.

NIL and the transfer portal, are new.

From any interview I've ever heard him speak about these topics, he was against them in general. He now says that he had to tip-toe around the topic and was often vague because of his position as a head coach but can now be free to weigh-in on the topic. I believe him and am interested to hear what he has to say on the topic and I don't see where he is being disingenuous.

If his voice can help to alter this chaos then I wish him luck. However, I doubt much will change until, collectively, the University Admins come to the realization that NIL is pulling donor money away from coffers currently under their purview.

You don't get it. The genie is out of the bottle. It's taking laps around the stadium. The things you don't like about college football didn't happen in a vacuum. They are the outgrowth of the inequity that has grown within the game.

This is pretty simple. You can't have one group getting stupidly rich while the other goes about its business like it's 1962. Something has to give when it comes to doling out all that money.

 

[AuggieDosta]

You don't get it. The genie is out of the bottle. It's taking laps around the stadium. The things you don't like about college football didn't happen in a vacuum. They are the outgrowth of the inequity that has grown within the game.

This is pretty simple. You can't have one group getting stupidly rich while the other goes about its business like it's 1962. Something has to give when it comes to doling out all that money.

and so, how this on Saban? What did he do, specifically?

 

[78]

and so, how this on Saban? What did he do, specifically?

He's nothing here but a surrogate for the ignorant notion that you can and should put the genie back in the bottle. Ain't happening.

 

[AuggieDosta]

He's nothing here but a surrogate for the ignorant notion that you can and should put the genie back in the bottle. Ain't happening.

What if he affects some change from the current model? Because, IMO, it needs help.

 

[jdh5484]

Next you'll be saying we should go back to leather helmets and segregated schools!

 

[78]

What if he affects some change from the current model? Because, IMO, it needs help.

If he can help trigger positive change in some form then more power to him. But we're not going back to the naive idea that coaches, administrators and the universities themselves can make lofty sums of money from today's game while the players exist in some sort of state of indentured servitude. That gap was destined to be nuked.

 

[jdh5484]

I’ll be the voice of reason. There is no solution to the existing problem. You can’t allow collegiate athletes to be paid if you’re not ok with the current state. It’s that simple. It was always going to spiral out of control because that’s the way free markets work. If kids feel they deserve to be paid they should be allowed to declare as professionals and the NFL needs to drop their own rule or develop a farm league so they can do so.

Then allow the kids who truly want to just play sports while getting a free education at a university they love do that. Everyone wins, including the fans.

The NCAA mismanaged a lot and shares some blame. But as I’ve said before, they were basically the Saddam of college athletics. They were hated and rightly so. But they also kept the crazies in check. Now that they’re all but defunct, in some respects they have been vindicated.

Bingo.

It won't happen.

Amateur athletics in college sports is kaput.

Unless Congress changes things.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Saban plans to speak out for 'meaningful change'

Nick Saban said Wednesday he plans to take stronger stances on issues such as NIL and the transfer portal because "what we have now is not college football."

www.espn.com

So... they guy who paid players for decades and hired every Billy Bags and others to keep his own hands clean is now wanting to fix the system when Bammer isn't the only one who gets to buy players?

Color me uninterested in his hilarious hypocracy.

 

[LaylaGator]

Bingo.

It won't happen.

Amateur athletics in college sports is kaput.

Unless Congress changes things.

Yeah, because Congress is so good at fixing things.

This requires an alliance among the conferences.