How Nick Saban’s exit from collegiate football was influenced by NIL

College athletics, according to a veteran coach, are no longer about player development.

During a roundtable discussion on the future of college athletics and the necessity of codifying name, image, and likeness rights for student athletes, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., former head football coach of the University of Alabama, Nick Saban, left, speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens. Balce Ceneta, Manuel, Associated Press

There were rumors that NIL had a part in Nick Saban’s decision to retire as the longstanding football coach at Alabama in January.

Although Saban denied it, he acknowledged that it played a part in him hanging up his whistle during a roundtable session on Tuesday on the future of college athletics on Capitol Hill.

“After 50 years of coaching, everything I held dear has been lost in collegiate athletics. It was always about helping people become more successful in life and about developing players, he stated.

Just before he retired, Saban’s wife told him, “All they care about is how much you’re going to pay them.” Why are we doing this when they don’t care how you’re going to grow them, as we’ve always done?

That seemed to Saban like a warning sign that the environment we are cultivating here is not conducive to the growth of young people.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, who facilitated the conversation, asked Saban how much the “current chaos and state of the law” influenced his decision to leave. To which Saban replied.

There are other legislation in Congress that attempt to regulate the use of names, images, and likenesses in collegiate athletics, but none of them have taken off. Utah is one of at least 30 states with laws regulating NIL in some capacity.

“Name, image, and likeness is a tremendous opportunity for them to establish a brand for themselves, as I have stated previously. That’s not at all against me,” Saban remarked. “But the future of college athletics depends critically on developing some sort of system that can still aid in young people’s development.”

When Saban began coaching at the collegiate level, he stated that his goals were academic support, personal growth, and getting kids ready for the day when they couldn’t play football. However, the pay-for-play model brought forth by the NIL and transfer regulations has upset the equilibrium of competition in collegiate sports.

“The person with the greatest potential to win is the one who can raise the most funds, pay the most, and acquire the greatest number of players,” stated Saban. “That, in my opinion, is not the essence of collegiate athletics.”