Nick Saban retired from his role as the Alabama football coach at the end of the 2023 college football season. Saban is one of the best coaches of all time, and it came as a big surprise to many to see him retire. At first, it was unclear what the true reason behind the retirement was, but Saban recently offered some insight into why he decided it was time to end his coaching career.
One thing that Nick Saban has discussed since he retired from being the Alabama football coach is NIL. Saban thinks that it has hurt college football in a way, and a big reason why he decided to retire was because of the conversations he had with his Crimson Tide players after this past season ended.
“I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?” Saban said during an interview with ESPN. “Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field. So I'm saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn't work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it's all about how much money can I make as a college player?' I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that's never been what we were all about, and it's not why we had success through the years.”
The thing is, the players aren't the only ones who benefit from their name, image and likeness. Saban made an estimated $5 million from endorsements in his career. Because of that, Dan LeBatard had some comments for him.
“He made $124 million in contracts at just Alabama and Stugotz was probably underpaid,” Dan LaBatard said on the Dan LaBatard show. “He had a country club membership paid for by the university so that's taxpayers. He's got two full-sized cars for business and personal use and no one knows whether those were part of the Ferrari collection he would show to recruits, but he would show a Ferrari collection to recruits. I don't imagine Nick Saban with Ferraris but maybe you did. He has 24 hours a year on non-commercial airlines, so anytime he wants a private plane basically he can do it. His salary the last season was $11.4 million and I'm guessing there's no college coach that made more in endorsements. It's estimated at $5 million, he'd get $75 grand for appearing in the SEC Championship Game, $125 grand if he won it. He'd get $65 grand for appearing in any bowl game at all. He bought a mansion recently on Juniper Island for $17.5 million, the $5 million in endorsements is a guess but it's got to be more than any other college coach of any kind.”
LaBatard didn't hold back when talking about Nick Saban and his comments about NIL. Saban doesn't think that it is done right in college football, but he clearly did benefit from it.
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