Nick Saban Pushes Back On Idea Of Presidential Commission To Fix College Sports

While the recent talk of college athletics has centered around the upcoming House settlement and the changes coming with revenue sharing, former Alabama coach Nick Saban made a pretty strong point on Wednesday that we might not actually need a Presidential commission on NIL. 

Over the past few weeks, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of a commission to look into fixing the current state of college athletics, including the ability for athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Saban, who has voiced his concerns regarding NIL, has been one of the people whose names have been tied to leading the proposed commission. 

But it doesn't sound like Saban is sold on the idea of a commission to help thwart some of the problems brought to light over the past few years. 

"First of all, I don’t know a lot about the commission. Secondly, I’m not sure we really need a commission," Saban told ESPN's Paul Finebaum on Wednesday. "I think that a lot of people know exactly what the issues are in college football and exactly what we need to do to fix them. The key to the drill is getting people together so we can move it forward.

"I’m not opposed to players making money, I don’t want anybody to think that. I just think the system that we (are using), the way it’s going right now, is not sustainable, and probably not in the best interest of the student-athletes across the board or the game itself. I think we need to protect the brand, and the competitive advantages and disadvantages that are being created right now, and I think we can fix all that. But I think we know how to do it, and not just me but a lot of people. We just have to get everybody together to do it."

Nick Saban Provides Background On How This Conversation Started

These are some pretty strong comments from Saban, who added that bogging down folks with a potential commission might not be the best strategy. The former Alabama coach pointed to his meeting with Trump during the President's commencement speech on May 1 in Tuscaloosa. 

"The way all this started [was] when President Trump spoke at the commencement at Alabama," Saban said. "All my friends are saying, 'College football is really messed up; let’s get together so we can figure out how to fix it.’ 

"So that’s how all this got started, I really don’t want to get into the implementation of what I would do. I think the first thing is everybody’s got a different state law, which creates advantages and disadvantages. And everybody is trying to create advantages. So we probably need an interstate commerce-type something that gets it all there. I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the players to necessarily be employees."

Nick Saban on the set of of ESPN College GameDay. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)

It was first reported by Yahoo Sports that Trump was looking at potential ways to help improve college athletics, and putting together a commission could be the best way to find solutions. There was also talk of the President signing an executive order that could create an avenue for lawmakers to tackle the ongoing subject. 

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey appeared reluctant to comment on a possible commission. 

"There's plenty of commentary about this possible commission," Sankey said. "I'm not going to overreact or react to what's reported about commissions. I think there are a lot of wise people who can provide input."

It certainly sounds like there's a lot of pushback to putting this in the hands of a group of people tasked with coming up with ideas on how to "save" college athletics. 

Maybe we could just gather a few of the smartest people in college athletics and figure out a way to get out of this massive hole.