Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban got out of coaching not long after the NCAA changed its policy to allow players to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Now, Saban is admitting that he thinks those changes put Alabama and the SEC at a bit of a disadvantage.
Saban has been openly critical of the NCAA’s NIL rules both during his coaching career and during his new career in media. And during his recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
“I do think that the culture in college football right now, with name, image and likeness (NIL) and paying players money, has actually maybe hurt the SEC a little bit, and helped the schools up North,” Saban said during his weekly Friday appearance via On3. “Because if you’re making your decision about money, and someone is going to pay you more to go to Ohio State or Michigan or wherever it is – and I’m not complaining about that, that’s the way it is – then these kids are going to be more willing to move.”
Nick Saban thinks that with the new NIL changes, high school recruits are now simply choosing a school based on which program offers them the most money, which means more talent is leaving the south to play for northern schools than ever happened previously.
“Kids are not growing up wanting to go to Alabama, wanting to go to Georgia, wanting to go to Florida, wanting to go to Texas. They want to go wherever to who is going to pay them the most money,” Saban continued. “So I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, I’m just saying that culture (of college football) has changed, which I think has made the regional advantage that the Southeastern Conference has had for years is no longer an advantage.”
While we’re still just a few years removed from the beginning of the NIL era in college football, and it might be a bit too early to see the full impacts, things do at least appear to be trending in that direction. After all, the past two national titles were won by a Big Ten team, and an SEC program has not played for a national title since the 2022 season. At the same time, Saban also offered a bit of a conflicting take during that same conversation with McAfee, as he questioned the overall depth of the Big Ten conference.
Regardless, it’s interesting to hear Nick Saban claim that the NIL changes put the team he formerly coached at a disadvantage, especially considering those changes seemed to play a big role in his decision to walk away from coaching when he did.
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