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I don’t mind that Nick Saban is a complete hypocrite, but that may be because I’ve spent more than three decades around the sports industry, and hypocrites come with the territory. That, and inflated senses of self-importance, are standard issue for wildly successful people in the sports businesses, and Saban was inarguably successful.
He’s no longer the head coach of a college football team, having already secured his financial fortune. But Saban is still pretty certain that the current name, image and likeness plan for athletes (NIL, as it’s called) is twisted and wrong. Saban is fairly sure it’ll ruin college football.
Old Nick has also cozied up to Donald Trump and told the president, “You should really do something about this!” To which Trump, who has spare time, apparently answered, “Did we just become best friends?” Trump then anointed Saban as co-chair of the brand new College Sports Commission, which is not a real thing, in anticipation that this commission will make recommendations that result in presidential Executive Orders, which will or won’t have the weight of law.
I don’t think any of this really matters to the NCAA, since it’s already in court on about a thousand things — what’s a few dozen more lawsuits stemming from some extracurricular government meddling? But if you’re curious about what a Nick Saban college sports landscape would look like, I can help.